Streetlevel: Obstacles Remain for Whole Foods

As has been suggested elsewhere, despite the fact that the DOB granted Whole Foods a permit to do underpinning work for its proposed store at 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue earlier in the month, the would-be Gowanus supermarket still faces some regulatory barriers. In addition to needing a full-on new building permit, the Department of Environmental Conservation still has to sign off on the job. As it turns out, the DEC is still reviewing Whole Foods’ application to build on a wetlands. According to Thomas V. Panzone, the department’s citizen participation specialist for our region, “Whole Foods has submitted an application for an Article 15 Protection of Waters Permit, a Water Quality Certification under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act , and an Article 25 Tidal Wetlands Permit.” English translation (best as we can tell!): Whole Foods must prove that the store’s location next to the canal won’t adversely affect the general public and that the supermarket won’t harm the canal by virtue of its existence next to the waterway. Panzone also says that once the DEC deems Whole Foods’ application complete it will “trigger established public participation processes,” a 30-day window for the public to comment on the store’s application that may include a public hearing. The DEC already held a public-review period about the grocer’s brownfield cleanup plan last January and approved Whole Foods’ remediation plan for the site. As it stands now, then, construction isn’t going to begin on the supermarket for some time, and it’s possible that concerns about the development’s environmental impact—which have repeatedly been raised by a local group called Friends & Residents of Greater Gowanus—will be taken into further consideration.
DOB Green Lights First Stage of Whole Foods Project [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Gowanus Whole Foods Still Faces a Few Hurdles [Gowanus Lounge]