Wildlife Returns To Contaminated Canal -- Will Housing Follow?

A canal in Brooklyn has been contaminated by sewage and runoff for years, but as conditions begin to improve, developers are thinking about ways to build houses in the primarily industrial area.

1 minute read

April 13, 2007, 11:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

"The gradual return of fish and birds to the canal has enticed some widely known developers."

"These developers have proposed projects that could involve rezoning parts of Gowanus and adding hundreds if not thousands of residents to the area."

"In response, staff members of the Department of City Planning are meeting this month and next with the local community board to evaluate the neighborhood's needs and chart its future. Their goal is a framework for land use decisions that could allow manufacturing and residential development to coexist and maybe even open up some recreational space."

"Because of its 200-year history as an industrial zone, no one fully understands how many contaminated lots there are in the area."

FULL STORY: Fume-Free (for Now) and Looking to the Future

Sunday, April 8, 2007 in The New York Times

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