As New York inches forward with the controversial Gowanus neighborhood rezoning in Brooklyn, the Department of City Planning (DCP) has released a plan for the industrial area along the polluted Gowanus Canal, which calls for denser commercial development, relaxed parking rules, and infrastructure and street upgrades.
The Gowanus Industrial Business Zone includes a diverse array of businesses, from wholesale lumber and flooring shops to artists to recording studios, as well as metalworkers, furniture makers, and more toxic industrial companies like asphalt plants and concrete mixers. The city’s new plan would allow for more industrial development on Second Avenue just east of the canal, as well as in the area between Third Avenue, 12th Street, the Gowanus Expressway and the canal.
