Hi-rise plans poised to cast shadow over Brooklyn Botanic Garden get OK from city planners

A controversial hi-rise plan that throws shade at the “sacred’’ Brooklyn Botanical Garden — potentially damaging its sensitive exotic plants — got the go-ahead from the city Planning Commission on Monday.The panel voted 9-3 to approve developer Continuum’s pruned-back yet still towering plan for 962-70 Franklin Ave.— as garden advocates argued even the revised proposal will prove devastating for such treasured denizens as tropical orchids, tropical desert plants and South African bulbs.“@BrooklynBotanic is sacred, and this one-of-a-kind community resource deserves one-of-a-kind consideration,” Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso wrote in a recent X post.

“This proposal fails to meet that standard.”Façade modifications had been made over the summer to reduce the building’s height from 14 to 10 stories, lowering the number of residential units from 475 to 355, including 89 income-restricted units.The shadow impacts to the garden will “vary on different portions of the garden, ranging from no shadow impacts on sunlight-sensitive conservatories to a range between 47 and 69 minutes on Hardy [Plant Nursery Yard] and [NY] Native plant sections where the impact is considered partially mitigatable,” a DCP rep told The Post, lauding the revised approved plan.Continuum has also pledged funding to mitigating shadow impacts in other ways, such as added lighting and structure upgrades to both the botanic garden and nearby Jackie Robinson Playground.“With today’s action, we are charting a path forward that balances the need for new housing with critical protections for a treasured community space,” said Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick in a statement.

“The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a jewel of the borough, and the special protections that we have proposed will ensure it can thrive far into the future while also creating the housing this community needs,” he said.The proposal will now go to the City Council for a vot...