Real Journalism. Written by Real People.

Recap: DCP Shows CB6 Committee Some Waterfront Proposals

The Department of City Planning (DCP) came to Community Board 6’s Economic/Waterfront/et al. meeting on May 20 to talk about the future of the Gowanus Canal waterfront.

DCP has already talked about what they call a Shore Public Walkway, which is part of their rezoning plan for the area. They have issued pretty pictures of people walking in the 40 foot band that is reserved for parkland around the canal. The already existing Sponge Park, near the completed Lightstone Project, the first Gowanus Canal residential building, is an example.

During the Q&A portion, member Mark Shames said community members would like to see more life along the waterfront and beyond, programming-wise (aside from proposed dog runs, play areas and art areas, for example), to which DCP reminded the audience that 40 feet isn’t a huge amount of space.

“The amount and types of programming is limited,” they continued. “There are a few opportunities that maybe could have a gathering space for like a food market or evening cinemas – those are things that could occur.”

The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club’s treasurer, Owen Foote, complained againt that DCP isn’t requiring private developers to provide ladders that go to/from the water in their Waterfront Access Plan, and asked DCP and the CB6 committee to consider required access at the public portions that meet with the canal. The agency responded that those determinations wouldn’t happen until after the rezoning’s approved.

“We are just cautious about placing a requirement of access at certain street ends where we don’t know it it’s feasible,” DCP added. “We see the value of waterfront access and getting access to boat and kayak launches, for example, but those have to be evaluated case-by-case, by location. Those are things we don’t know yet.”

When resident Brad Vogel also asked if the plan would designate spots along the canal for working vessels to be tied up and offload cargo (to interface with the Mayor’s Freight NYC plan – a citywide effort that launched in July 2018 to move more freight by waterborne vessels instead of by trucks), the agency said that would be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

 

Photos from NYC Planning’s EWCDH Waterfront Access presentation on 5/20/19

Author

  • George Fiala

    George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.

    View all posts

Discover more from Red Hook Star-Revue

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

Our Sister Publication

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

Target Margin Theater to kick of ‘The Nonsense Lab’ in September

The 2026-2027 season at the Target Margin Theater begins on Sept. 17 with The Nonsense Lab, a three-week performance festival of new work that explores the theme of Nonsense, this according to an Aug. 18 press release. The Nonsense Lab includes three performances: Let Me Be an Animal, a dance by choreographer Caroline Fermin, “celebrating the slow, awkward, sweaty, and questioning parts

At ‘A Few of Each,’ Gowanus artists capture a neighborhood in flux

In some cultures, there’s a belief that death comes not when your heart stops beating, but when you’re forgotten. To remember something is to keep it alive, even if only in your heart. That idea is the key to A Few of Each, the collection of cityscape art currently on display at Gowanus Wine Studio on 3rd Avenue. The exhibition

Vincent Coppola on ‘Gowanus Crossing’

I first met Vincent Coppola in 1961 when we were high school freshmen at St. Augustine High School on Park Place in the Slope. After a career in journalism and some notable books, he’s now ensconced in Savannah, a city which, like Vinny, acknowledges the presence of ghosts. The interview has been edited to leave out the boring bits. Full

People of Red Hook: August 2026

This is New York City, but today nobody’s rushing. People are lollygagging down the streets while the 95-degree heat penetrates their bones. So it’s not too hard to get them to stop and talk to me about their relationships with their phones—the very phones that most of them are staring into before our conversations begin.   Christopher Loyd: I’m trying to

✕
Red Hook- Star Revue

FREE
VIEW