Community Board 6 Approves 6-Foot Fence Plan For LICH Site

COBBLE HILL – After plans to erect a nine-foot-high brick wall along Amity Street were tabled at a Brooklyn Community Board 6 Landmarks & Land Use Committee meeting in October, Fortis Property Group developed an alternate plan to install two shorter steel fences at the site instead.

Council Member Brad Lander, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, the Cobble Hill Association, and neighbors objected to the proposed wall’s height, claiming that it was “out of context” with the historic architecture of the neighborhood. Many also noted that a nine-foot-tall wall would feel like a barricade.

The fences will be installed at Fortis’ 14-story, 25-unit 5 River Park condo rising at 347 Henry Street (between Amity and Pacific) as part of the developer’s seven-building project to convert several former Long Island College Hospital (LICH) sites into luxury residences.

The revised plan consists of a three-foot-high fence along the property line on Amity Street and a second six-foot-high fence erected behind it. Greenery will be planted between the two fences.

The fences will conceal a private back garden and an “outdoor resort pool” planned for 5 River Park. The developer initially had to request a Certificate of Appropriateness from NYC Landmarks and Preservation Commission to build the wall because part of the property along Amity Street is included in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

Fortis first presented the revised plan at the CB6 Landmarks & Land Use Committee meeting on November 29, where it was recommended for approval. The full CB6 board approved the new proposal unanimously with a friendly amendment on Wednesday, December 12, during the community board’s general meeting. The amendment requests that the total height of the taller fence not exceed six feet.