The Land Use Committee will again be discussing and possibly voting on a resolution to request a study from City Planning. Our group has put together a list of questions that we feel should be answered before a resolution is passed. 1. Originally, this community requested a study in order to do one thing as called for by Borough President Marty Markowitz in his letter dated March, 2013, downzone all areas whose zoning allowed for tall, out of context buildings, in order to maintain the low rise character of the existing neighborhood, as well as its diversity. The vast majority of community members (probably on the order of 95%-99%) who have had input into this process and this rezoning request asked for the same thing. Yet, beginning with the resolution passed in March, 2014, each resolution either called for upzoning, increases in density, or as in the latest resolution, implied increases in density and new housing, despite the fact that we are the densest district in Brooklyn. Who was responsible for this change and where did the justification for it come from? 2. Regarding this upzoning request, what are the projections that the board assumed in making this request in terms of number of new units and the increase in population? 3. How many new units and new residents are projected from developments that have already been approved or are in the works? What conclusions has the board reached regarding the impact of these existing increases coupled with the expected upzoning increases? 4. In terms of the most likely outcome, won't the community probably get more of what it wants (lower height limits and less density) if we submit detailed block by block zoning information and recommendations informed by a professional planner than if we send a vague request to City Planning to conduct a study for us? If we set the terms of the debate and stand behind it in a firm way, won't we stand a better chance of succeeding? 5. What evidence do you have that City Planning will no longer have the time to respond to our request for rezoning if we spend the next six months conducting our own study? 6. If we do our own study, won't that mean that City Planning will not have to do a lot of the work themselves and so will not require a lot of resources to attend to our request? 7. Given the situation so far in East New York, what evidence do you have that this neighborhood will have a real say in determining the outcome of a City Planning-led study or that this study will result in acceptable outcomes to the community? 8. Why do you believe that adding luxury towers, with 80% market rate apartments and 20% affordable apartments, will result in a long term net gain of affordable apartments for our community? What % of these affordable apartments will be affordable to residents whose income is below the average median level for the city, which most of our residents are? 9. Do you believe that the district will get more or less development with a rezoning plan that comes out of a City Planning-led study? Explain. What do you think is the most likely outcome of a DCP study? 10. What research have you done to determine the exposure this district has in the near future for additional 626-size developments? Join Concerned Citizens's mailing list-- Send a request to plgrezoning@gmail.com or alanpberger@gmail.com.