Not In Our Back Canal! Residents Hear Out Toll Brothers on Gowanus Project

The vice president of Toll Brothers David Von Spreckelsen and another company representative unexpectedly appeared at a neighborhood meeting in Gowanus, Brooklyn, last night to defend the 575-unit residential project the builders plan to develop along the polluted canal.

Friends of Bond Street organized the meeting to rally public opposition to Toll Brothers' planned development before the public scope hearing takes place next week.

At last night’s meeting, Toll Brothers revealed that it would not close on the two plots it intended to build on until its application for residential land use is approved ahead of the wider rezoning planned for the entire Gowanus Canal area.

Brooklyn Planning Director Purnima Kapur told the Gowanus Lounge blog that a rezoning draft plan for the entire area should be ready by late spring or early summer.

Carrol Gardens residents are concerned about the impact both the Toll Brothers' project and the residential rezoning will have on the already overcrowded subway system, local retail, and the overtaxed sewage system. Toll Brothers did allay concerns about cleaning up the oil spill, Brownstoner reported. "We would not be able to sell one condo at this site unless we properly remediated it," Mr. Von Spreckelsen told the meeting.

Queens Councilman Tony Avella, who heads the Zoning and Franchises Committee, also showed up last night and told The Observer this afternoon that he expects City Council to approve Toll Brothers' land use request.

“Unfortunately the Council has been very friendly to developers,” Mr. Avella said. “The real estate community controls what’s going on in the city and what’s on the Council’s agenda. I believe that the people should have a greater say in what happens with their community... The present system works from the top down.”