Sep 17, 2018 2 min read Announcements

Reminder: Community Input Session For Brooklyn Detention Center, Thursday, Sept. 20

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN/BOERUM HILL – Last month, Mayor de Blasio revealed details and renderings for the four borough-based detention centers that will replace Rikers Island, including updates to the current Downtown Brooklyn/Boerum Hill location.

Brooklyn Detention Center, 275 Atlantic Avenue (Photo: Pamela Wong/BKLYNER)

Changes to the existing Brooklyn Detention Center at 275 Atlantic Avenue will increase its capacity from 800 prisoners to approximately 1,510, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, as well as add new safety and security measures. Renovations include ground-floor retail, community space, and parking. The “community-based” centers will make the jail system “smaller, safer and fairer,” according to de Blasio.

The overall plan also includes expediting the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) by combining the proposed changes to the Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens facilities into one ULURP package which entails reviews and votes from the local Community Boards, Borough Presidents, City Planning Commission, and City Council.

A Community Input Session for the Brooklyn Detention Center is scheduled for Thursday, September 20 at 6pm at PS 133, The William A. Butler School, 610 Baltic Street (at 4th Avenue).

Brooklyn residents will be able to ask questions and comment about the plan. The first public meeting about the project took place last week in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where residents expressed their frustrations about the new 40-story jail proposed for their neighborhood, Curbed reported.

The city will hold City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) meetings in the coming weeks in each of the four boroughs where a new or updated detention center is planned, according to Curbed. After the CEQR meetings, the city will release a Final Scope of Work that will be used to develop the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which studies the environmental impact the facilities will have on their surrounding neighborhoods. After the DEIS is released, the city will proceed with the ULURP process.

Click to read NYC’s Roadmap to Closing Rikers Island.