RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 161 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



lyn from the Heights to and a little beyond Prospect Park on the south 

 and Throop and Bushwick Avenues on the east, while the still larger C Dis- 

 tricts, extending eastward to Forest Park and beyond it southward over 

 most of the area to Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay, are scarcely less 

 restricted. 



The difference between the restrictions in the B districts and the 

 C districts is so small, not beginning, in fact, to take effect for buildings 

 less than 60 feet in height, that the Brooklyn Committee recommends to 

 the Commission that all of the B districts should be made C districts, ex- 

 cepting perhaps a few small areas on the Heights, the Park Slope and the 

 Hill. In the judgment of the Brooklyn Committee no injustice would be 

 done if the borders of the C districts were extended to include all of the 

 B districts. 



It is likewise the thought of the Brooklyn Committee that the limits of 

 the D districts should be extended from the fringe of the borough toward its 

 center by considerable extensions. In the D districts only 60 per cent of 

 the lot may be covered by tenement or apartment houses ; while in A, B 

 and C districts 70 per cent may be covered. Also in the D districts the yard 

 must be at least 21 feet in depth for a building 50 feet in height, while 

 in the A and B districts it need be but 15 feet in depth for a building 90 

 feet in height, and in the C districts 18 feet 9 inches for a building 90 feet 

 in height. 



For similar reasons we would urge an extension of the E districts, with 

 their still closer restrictions. 



We believe not only for reasons already mentioned that closer restric- 

 tions should be applied to Brooklyn than to Manhattan or the Bronx, but 

 that the value of Brooklyn territory in the aggregate will be greater with 

 such restrictions than without them; and, further, that such restrictions 

 will tend to elevate the level of citizenship throughout the wide extent of 

 this rapidly growing borough, which is destined for many years to come to 

 be an increasing factor in determining the future destiny of the Great 

 Metropolis. 



Yards of non-residential buildings should extend to the ground level 



Regarding non-residential buildings in residential districts, we observe 

 that such buildings are permitted to cover the whole of the lot area in the 

 B and C districts to a height of 18 feet above the curb. This seems to us 

 an injustice, while residential buildings are obliged to preserve a rear yard 

 of at least 12 feet in depth. We attach much importance to the preserva- 

 tion of clear open spaces through the middle of each block. We would urge, 

 therefore, a modification of the regulations for non-residential buildings in 

 B and C districts to provide that wherever the rears of lots facing on pro- 

 posed business streets abut against the rears of lots facing on residential 

 streets, the rear 10 feet in depth of the business lots shall be left as open 

 yards from the ground level. 



Suggested amendments to the use maps 



May we also call the attention of the Commission to the fact that its 

 map of use districts shows a factory district laid out between the Eastern 

 Parkway extension and Highland Park, so that it may become impossible 

 to pass from the Eastern Parkway to Forest Park and out on Long Island 

 without passing through or along the borders of a factory district for a 

 distance of approximately half a mile. May we urge a revision of the use 



