Brooklyn Heights resident/blogger/lawyer/urban planner Michael DD White’s recent blog post about the possible replacements for the current Brooklyn Heights library has the interwebs abuzz this week. Brownstoner characterized it as having “plenty of conspiracy theories about how this is all a big set-up for another land grab by Forest City Ratner”.
The NY Observer also picked up the post, first mentioned on BHB over the weekend, and received this reponse from the BPL regarding White’s reporting that a potential replacement building could reach 40 stories:
A spokesman from the Brooklyn Public Library has contacted The Observer to dispute Michael White’s assertion that Josh Nachowitz has said to anyone that a building on the site of the Brooklyn Heights branch could reach forty stories. Regarding the height of any potential building, he said that discussions are not that far along. The current zoning of the site would allow for a floor-area ratio of 12 (with the affordable housing bonus)—assuming the site were built out to its maximum zoning capacity, a building taller than about twenty stories seems unrealistic to us.
