The two big matters of business at last night's Community Board 2 meeting at LIU were a pair of ambitious developments on opposite ends of Vanderbilt Avenue. What prompted the most debate, however, was the role of cars and parking in one of those developments. First the Vanderbilt projects.

470 Vanderbilt: Whole Foods a Possibility

At 470 Vanderbilt, taking up the entire block between Vanderbilt, Clermont, Fulton, and Atlantic, GFI Development Co. is proposing a mixed-use development which incorporates a new 12-story structure where there is now a lonely and underused parking lot. The new building calls for 375 units of housing, of which almost a quarter will be affordable housing. The existing building, a former tire plant renovated during the dot-com boom and built to house server farms and other high tech infrastructure, is predominantly vacant. Under GFI's plans, it will be renovated and leased as office space.

There have been rumors and mixed messages on this blog about whether Whole Foods might tuck itself into the ground floor of this project, which is set to include 33,000 square feet of retail space. At the meeting, GFI's CEO, Andrew Zobler, revealed that he is in talks with Whole Foods, along with other supermarket operators, about occupying the space. So dust off your Kitchen-Aids.

Download a pdf of the whole presentation here.

Navy Green: Forging Ahead

At Navy Green, on the other end of Vanderbilt, covering the block between the Navy Yard, the BQE, Clermont Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue, Dunn Development Corp has plans for a mixed use development which will include 455 units of housing, the bulk of which will be affordable. The board's land use committee endorsed the plan at its last meeting, and a Dunn principal, Martin Dunn, stopped by to recap the plan's highlights.

The project also features two rows of market-rate townhouses, ground-level retail space, and a substantial number of units for chronically homeless adults who suffer mental illness or chemical addiction. Historical note: this land is city owned and is the former site of the Navy Brig, which in the 1940's and 50's was used to detain drunken sailors arrested in the bars on Myrtle Avenue.

Pdf of presentation here.

Parking-less Apartment Complex Debated

Then there arose the prickly matter of cars and parking. Mr. Dunn explained that the project was conceived as an environmentally sustainable development and will not include any off-street parking (not even for you with the sub-compact hybrid). Instead, each building will be equipped with bike storage. "We think there should be less car usage and less car ownership," Mr. Dunn said.

If you're a fan of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan's efforts to transform New York into a city that's less friendly to motorists and more friendly to cyclists and pedestrians, you might be glad to hear those words coming from the mouth of a major developer.

A number of attendees at the meeting, though, were not. Among them was former board member Deborah Stewart, head of the Farragut houses tenant association, who stepped out from behind the podium to express skepticism about Navy Green's reliance on on-street parking. "When the construction under the BQE finishes," she said, "the cars will come back. So we would appreciate that being looked at again, because that is going to be a problem with parking."

A board member, Irene Janner, agreed. "I think parking would be required to make it more desirable and less offensive," she said. Ms. Janner then put forward a motion asking that off-street parking be included in the development plans.

What seemed to be brewing here in the windowless Long Island University auditorium, where the meeting was held, was a small battle in the culture war over the role of cars in New York City. Michael Epstein, a new board member who is a director of the pro-bike organization Transportation Alternatives, rebutted Ms. Janner: "There will be lots of parking under the BQE. I move against the motion."
Board Itself Faces Budget Cut

Hanging over the meeting was the release of the Mayor's budget for next year, which proposes steep cuts in the $200,000 allocated to each of the city's community boards. How would Community Board 2 deal with having $35,000 cut from their budget, as the mayor proposes? "It will have an extremely harsh and deleterious effect," said John Dew, the board's chairman. "We may have to look at the furlough of some of our employees." The board employs three people.

Finally, buried over two hours into the meeting, was word that CB2 will be getting a new Web site. This news, delivered by the board's district manager, Robert Perris, was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the crowd of almost a hundred people. Before presenting a prototype of the new site, Mr. Perris began with an acknowledgment. "I just want to say that if the person on Brownstoner who posts as TinaRina is here, thank you for that wonderful thing you said today."

Matt Lieber has lived in Fort Greene since 2001.