Cobble Hill Community Board Rejects "Modern" Townhouses on Design
From Courier-Life
03/23/2007
Raspberry for tony townhouses – Land Use Committee doesn’t welcome Columbia St. plan
By Gary Buiso
Maybe Brooklyn just isn’t ready for the “Guggenheim” just yet.
Community Board 6 last week turned away a variance request seeking approval to construct three modern townhouses on a vacant lot, a proposal the applicant compared to the iconic Manhattan museum.
The type of buildings proposed at the location, 300, 302, and 304 Columbia Street, would forever alter the “essential character of the neighborhood,” according to Jerry Armer, the chairman of the board’s Land Use Committee, which also rejected the proposal.
“It is totally out of context,” he said.
A particularly galling element of the proposed two-unit townhouses, Armer noted, was the use of a metal roof, which would contrast significantly with its more staid brick neighbors.
At its monthly meeting, the community board voted 34-1 with two abstentions to reject the application.
The board’s vote is strictly advisory. Official say on the matter comes by way of the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals.
Developer Marshall Sohne said he was baffled by the community board’s opinion.
“I was sort of taken back by the comments,” he said.
“When you come with a two-story structure and there is still opposition, you feel pretty much like, ‘Why bother?’” he said.