Our Gloomy Future, Straight from the DEIS Report:
This enhanced illustration below shows the shadow sweep caused by the sixteen towers of Bruce Ratner's proposed Atlantic Yards Development.
On the original illustration from the State's Environmental Report on Atlantic Yards the shadows from the project's buildings were represented by a sunny yellow color.
Using a few Photoshop tricks, one can plainly see the real environmental impact of the sixteen towers of Ratner's Atlantic Yards Development City. The largest tower, stupidly called Miss Brooklyn, is 60 stories, which is 20% taller than the WIlliamsburgh Savings bank building. The impending shadows will enshroud numerous smaller parks, historical sites and districts, and extend into landmark Fort Greene Park.
Ironically, the new Atlantic Terminal Houses development will be in shadow on and off during the coldest times of the year, winter. The new South Oxford Street Playground will spend several hours in shadows most of the year. The winter shadows would block the sun on many of the streets in the Fort Greene Historic District in midday, causing higher heating bills. (see the actual text below excepted from Chapter 9.)
Another ludicrous aspect of the map is that the open sidewalk area outside the new Ratner Atlantic Terminal Mall (at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic) is labeled as "Open Green Space." No grass, few trees, cafe tables, Starbucks, no dogs allowed. This is Ratner's idea of a park.
Image provided by FCRC; Image Enhancement by Abby Weissman (Note: the only supplementation to this image is the addition of new colors, arrows and text, and slight cropping).
Click here to see a large PDF of the above recolored "Real Shadow Sweep" illustration
Click here to see the original Adobe Acrobat PDF file of the Shadow Sweep Illustration.
Figure 9-63, SHADOW DIAGRAM PHASE II
Straight from the Environmental Impact Study, this illustration shows the expected shadows from the proposed Atlantic Yards Development's skyscrapers in winter, the coldest time of year.
Click on the image to view a larger image.
Click here to download the PDF file: Figure_9-63.pdf.
Click here to download the complete chapter 09_Shadows.pdf.
(note: large file 1.7 mg)
It is strange that these Ratner DEIS Shadow Diagrams do not include Fort Greene Park and stops right below it. - AW
Following are excerpts from the DEIS Report, Chapter 9; Shadows
Chapter 9 - page 14
Duration of Incremental Shadow on Historic Resources in Phase I — 2010
Historic Resources
Long shadows in December would reach a number of historic resources. The building on Site 5 would cast shadow on the Church of the Redeemer for less than a half hour at the beginning of the analysis period. Building 1 and the building on Site 5 would cast shadow on the Atlantic Terminal Control House from the beginning of the analysis period at 8:51 AM until 2:30 PM, which is almost the end of the analysis period (see Figures 9-39 through 9-43). Shadow from Building 4 would fall on the Hanson Place Baptist Church for less than one hour—from 11:45 AM to 12:30 PM. Shadow from the building on Site 5 would fall on the BAM Historic District from 11:30 AM to 2:15 PM. From 11:30 AM to 1:15 PM, shadow would fall on the south and east façades of the Willamsburgh Savings Bank Building and the large arched windows that illuminate the main banking hall (see Figure 9-41).
Building 4 would cast shadow that would reach the corner of the Fort Greene Historic District at the intersection of Cumberland Street and Greene Avenue at 11:45 AM and leave the district at 2:53 PM. Building 1 would cast shadow on small portions of the Fort Greene Historic District from 1:00 PM until the end of analysis period.
"With multiple buildings in a row these are shadow sweeps which mean as the sun goes across the sky the shadows would be nearly constant from the row of buildings."
Chapter 9 - page 22
Historic Resources with Sun-Sensitive Features - Phase II
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Historic District
On the December analysis day the building on Site 5 would cast shadow on the BAM Historic
District from the beginning of the analysis period until 2:15 PM. The shadows would fall mostly
on backyards and sidewalks. Given their small size, these incremental shadows would not be
considered a significant adverse impact on the BAM Historic District.
Fort Greene Historic District
Shadows from Building 4 would fall on the Fort Greene Historic District for the whole December analysis period. Buildings 1 through 14 would cast shadows for almost 11/2 hours in the March/September analysis period. The shadows would fall mostly on the streets of the historic district and would, therefore, not be considered a significant adverse impact.
Clinton Hill Historic District
Building 7 would cast shadow on the Clinton Hill Historic District. The shadows would reach
the district late on the December analysis day for less than 30 minutes. These shadows would not
have significant adverse impacts because they would fall on only an extremely small portion of
the district for a short duration.
Clinton Avenue Historic District
Shadows from Building 10 would fall on the Clinton Avenue historic district from 2:00 PM to
4:29 PM during March and from 12:00 PM to the end of the analysis day (2:53 PM) during
December. Given the short duration and small size of these shadow increments, these shadows
would not be considered significantly adverse.
Click here to see more disturbing images from the DEIS Report including your future prospects of parking your car!
Excerpt from Chapter 9, SHADOWS, Principle Conclusions, Page 2
OPEN SPACES
The Atlantic Terminal Houses
"the shadows cast by the 2016 proposed project’s buildings would result in a significant adverse impact on the open space resource of the Atlantic Terminal Houses, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) development, located at the northeast corner of Atlantic and Carlton Avenues."
"with full development (2016), there would be additional shadow cast on this open space. Both parts of the open space would receive shadow all day in the winter."
"In the spring and fall, the Carlton Avenue side would receive shadow for most of the afternoon, and the Atlantic Avenue side would receive shadow for most of the analysis day.
"During late spring and late summer days, the Carlton Avenue side would receive shadow for a brief time at the end of the analysis period, but the Atlantic Avenue side would be in shadow for most of the afternoon."
"In summer, the project’s incremental shadow would not reach the Carlton Avenue side, whereas the Atlantic Avenue side would be in shadow during the mid-afternoon hours.
"The Carlton Avenue side would receive less incremental shadow throughout the year than the Atlantic Avenue side."
"The project’s incremental shadows would have a significant adverse impact on this open space when the weather is cooler and shadows are longer, in the spring, fall, and winter as they would diminish the attractiveness of this open space.
STAY INFORMED!
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UPDATE ON THE ATLANTIC YARDS' LAWSUITS
Ft. Greene Rezoned