A battle over a proposed high-rise near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is still blooming — despite the developer behind the project claiming it amended its plans to avoid casting shadows on the green space. Dozens of critics gathered at a public hearing Wednesday to disavow developer Continuum’s pruned proposal , which garden officials said would still cast damaging shade on sun-loving tropical, desert and Mediterranean plants. The new plans will create “existential harm to Brooklyn Botanic Garden for generations to come,” Adrian Benepe, Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s president and CEO, said at the hearing.
“Developers saying they’re advocates for the health needs of plants is like the chairman of Dow Chemical Company saying chemicals are good for rivers and streams,” Benepe said. The changes by Continuum followed mounting criticism from garden staff and community members over the potential shade that would be cast on the greenhouses by its planned 14-story tower at 970 Franklin Ave. Brooklyn’s Community Board 9 also unanimously rejected the project (with two abstentions) in June due to the potential for “significant adverse effects on portions of the community district including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) and the Jackie Robinson Playground.
” Council Member Crystal Hudson convinced BBG officials to meet with developers back in July about the modifications, Benepe said. He called the changes “marginal improvements” and surely not enough to ensure the e.