Next month, the Department of City Planning (DCP) will begin the final review for a zoning change for Brighton, with an eye toward finalizing it by summer. The rezoning is an attempt to limit destructive overdevelopment by setting clear limits on construction and creating height restrictions for buildings in the area. Most of the neighborhood is now zoned without any height limits.
“The proposal would create zoning regulations that respond to the scale and character of the neighborhood,” says DCP spokeswoman Jennifer Torres. The agency expects the downzoning to bring relief to the community, speckled with unsold and unfinished high-rise condos. But many residents and local officials think it may be insufficient to solve Brighton’s problems.
Under the plan, close to 80 percent of the neighborhood will have a height limit of 40 feet, which roughly equates to four stories. On commercial strips, buildings can go up as high as 80 feet, or about eight 8 stories, and on Brighton Beach Avenue, 100 feet, or 10 stories. Other changes include the creation of off-street parking spaces and incentives to build affordable housing.
“I think it’s too little, too late,” said Marion Cleaver, chairwoman of local Community Board 13. The board's district manager, Chuck Reichenthal, was similarly glum. Asked whether the proposal will solve the development situation in Brighton, he said: "No, it won’t.”
The roots of the area’s problems stretch back to the 1970s when Brighton's slow economy prompted the city to loosen zoning regulations. Buildings of any height were allowed, as long as they met guidelines such as providing sufficient sky visibility and parking spaces. Despite the change, one- and two-story residential houses continued as the neighborhood norm.
In the 1980s, immigrants began moving in, and Brighton Beach became home to a thriving migrant community. The influx of youth and money made a market for luxury housing look possible. The Muss Development Company became the first to take advantage of this market, putting up the Oceana condominium complex in 2001.
Oceana’s success broke the floodgates. Other developers raced to buy up properties in the district in order to build lucrative condos and medical offices. Construction sites appeared on every block throughout the district. The booming neighborhood was on the fast track to becoming a “condo paradise,” as one resident put it.
But the market did not evolve as expected, and demand for the expensive condos never materialized in the numbers that developers were counting on. One-family apartments often started above $500,000 in the area, according to the NYC Department of Finance. But “Brooklyn has been downtrending over the past three-four years,” said Jeff Grandis, a real estate agent in the area, who noted that price point was too high. “For that reason, prices have been going down, inventories have been rising.”
