CB15 Votes in Favor of Sheepshead Bay Affordable Housing Development With Retail and Parking

Community Board 15 on Tuesday voted to approve a proposed five-story, 144-unit building on Coyle Street in Sheepshead Bay, with 43 affordable units — and 195 parking spots.

The site at 2134 Coyle Street, between avenues U and V, currently holds Berkoff Supply, a janitorial equipment seller, which is moving, and a Dollar Tree that will occupy retail space on the ground floor. The proposed building would include about 126,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, according to Neil Weisbard, who was representing developer Marty Waisbrod with Coyle Street Properties LLC at the meeting.

The 43 affordable units are expected to include 13 at 80 percent of area median income, 11 at 60 percent AMI, and 8 at 40 percent AMI, with the rest being at about 130 percent. The remaining 101 units will be market-rate.

After Weisbard’s presentation, the board voted to approve the project 28 to six.

The developers of 2134 Coyle have been engaged in a back-and-forth for years on tailoring the development to the community’s wants and needs, with parking emerging as a major sticking point. Locals concerned about a lack of parking spaces in the neighborhood asked the developers to return with a greater number of spots on several occasions, until they presented a plan for 195 spots, which is 35 percent more spots than planned apartment units.

Board members were told that if they did not approve the project, then the developer would instead construct an even taller building (65 feet) intended to house a charter school, for which they would not need a rezoning.

CB15 First Vice Chair Ronald Tawil said at the hearing that the board has an unwritten rule that all developers applying for a rezoning before it must provide at least one parking space per unit, or they’ll be left with bupkes. Reached by phone, board chair Theresa Scavo confirmed the guideline.

“Why? There’s no parking in southern Brooklyn,” Scavo said. “You put up a 100 unit building and you tell us you have 30 spots, where do the other 60 people park their car?”

“We usually aim for one spot per unit in the building,” she continued.

Scavo said the additional 50 spots were added in for those who will end up working at the ground floor retail establishments.

There is a B3 bus stop around the corner on Avenue U, and the B44 Select Bus Service stops a few blocks away at Avenue U and Nostrand Avenue. However, the site is not very accessible by subway; the nearest stop is Avenue U on the Q train about a mile away. The rezoning that the developer was aiming for, R6A, requires that off-street parking be provided for at least 50 percent of residents.

2134 Coyle’s rezoning application will now go before the borough president, before reaching the City Planning Commission, City Council, and finally the mayor.

The board voted down a separate rezoning application at 2892 Nostrand Avenue, between Marine Parkway and Madison Place, for a nine-story building with 55 units including 14 affordable ones, despite lobbying in favor from former Council Member Dominic Recchia.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here to see the original story.

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