The City Planning Commission has spoken and says the Atlantic Yards Project should be reduced by 8%. This is only a "recommendation," but since the project's developer the Forest City Ratner had been considering a 6-8% downsizing, given all the public outcry, this seems like something the group may well do. Especially since the City Planning Commission "raved," the Post puts it, about the tallest skyscraper in the group, Frank Gehry's "Miss Brooklyn" structure that would be taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in the Brooklyn skyline. Instead, the CPC asked that another tower's height be reduced so views the bank could still be seen. The CPC also asked that other buildings' heights be reduced, plus for another acre of open space to go to 8 acres total.
Critics of the plan aren't happy with the City Planning Commission's recommendation, saying the CPC should have gone further. However, project supporter Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who more recently has been more cautious about the plan's size, told the NY Times found the silver lining: “The good news here is that the city is saying it’s the right project at the right time and at the right location.”
The Empire State Development Corporation will now decide whether or not to incorporate the CPC's recommendation. The Post notes that the ESDC "could snub" them, but "that's unlikely considering the city's financial backing for the plan."
