We, the undersigned, oppose the proposal brought before the Landmarks Commission by owners of 171 Baltic Street.

This building is in a designated historic district. The integrity of the visible architecture in Cobble Hill is maintained at considerable expense by residents in replaced windows, walks, trims and other details carefully preserved and maintained in kind because residents and visitors alike value the experience of going through our streets. Change to accommodate individual wants, architectural innovation, are available over most of the City. Historic districts are different in that their value resides in the continuity and the preservation of their heritage.

The owners of 171 Baltic Street are applying for approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build a bulkhead and an oversized canopy above their roof. They falsely assert these structures are necessary to install solar panels: twice as many panels could be installed directly on the roof itself. The reason for the structure is to accommodate a rooftop recreational space covering most of the roof, including under the canopy, with stair access from the floor below. These structures will be visible from Henry Street, PS 29’s schoolyard, Kane Street and Strong Place as the mock-up demonstrates. Existing smokestacks will have to be raised to about 18’ above the existing roof line.

This is inconsistent with the nature of our historical, landmark neighborhood. It would set a new negative standard for rooftop additions that would strike at the formal integrity of the district and create a precedent for future erosion of its raison d’être.

Rooftop recreation and structures of this kind could become the rule and permanently change the  appearance of Cobble Hill. This new use of property would drastically change the appearance and noise level of what has been a decades-long, carefully maintained investment by a community in its neighborhood, and sense of continuity and order. Late socializing would expand from backyards to the wide open rooftops. An even, historic streetscape would become a series of miscellaneous structures along the roofline.

Solar panels are not the reason for the special exceptions sought. In fact the reverse is true. Solar panels could be much more extensively installed directly on the roof without need for Commission approval of inappropriate, extensively visible structures.