COLUMBIA STREET WATERFRONT DISTRICT — Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su has approved a request by Brooklyn officials for an extension of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal comment period, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon announced late Tuesday.
The decision came at the last minute: Tuesday had been the original deadline to submit written testimony on the project’s Draft Scope of Work. (A DSOW is used to develop a project’s consequential Environmental Impact Statement.)
The new deadline for public comments is May 8.
Brooklyn waterfront residents and officials celebrated the news, sending out a flurry of emails thanking all who had sent letters to the city requesting the extension.
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Photo: Gabriele Holtermann/Brooklyn Eagle
“Thank you to Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, Councilmember Shahana Hanif and Alexa Avilés — and to Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso who joined our efforts. And to the community who weighed in! Your voices have been heard,” Simon, herself a signatory, wrote.
There were several reasons the extension of time was necessary, officials said. The first was the Economic Development Corporation’s release — just last week — of 25 never-before-seen maritime-based proposals the EDC received as a result of its September 2025 “Request for Expressions of Interest.” The RFEI was meant to solicit ideas for how the BMT could be better used for maritime/industrial uses.
Schematic overview of the 122-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. Diagram: NYCEDC
The outcome of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Vision Plan has been described as “one of the largest and most consequential public land use decisions in decades,” with long-lasting effects on the entire city’s maritime, Blue Highway and security future.
Given that the 25 maritime-centered responses were shared by EDC just one week ago, and only in cursory form, officials said that was not nearly enough time for the public to examine and evaluate them before the Tuesday deadline.
Other reasons for the extension included the lack of public, in-person meetings on these late-arriving proposals, and the lack of the mandatory meetings of two oversight committees.
The 122-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal site stretches along the East River from Atlantic Avenue to Red Hook. Photo: NYCEDC
EDC hopes to replace more than half of site with housing
The 122-acre BMT site stretches on public land from Atlantic Avenue to Red Hook on the East River, and includes a container port, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and other maritime and industrial tenants.
The Economic Development Corporation’s preferred $3.4 billion BMT Vision Plan would take over more than half of this industrial acreage and convert it to residential development, including 6,000 units of 60% market-rate housing. This would leave 60 acres for maritime/industrial use.
The vote approving the controversial plan had been postponed five times amid issues including the shrinkage of scarce maritime acreage, the lack of a transportation plan to handle already-congested streets, a fuzzy financial plan, and the effect of roughly 18,000 new residents in an area with failing infrastructure in a floodplain, among other points.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes. Photo: Andrew Gounardes
Reynoso had agreed to vote for the EDC’s plan last year on the condition that EDC issue the RFEI seeking more maritime ideas. Last week, he joined other officials in urging the city to allow more time to consider these ideas.
“EDC made the right move by extending the comment period for the RFEI,” Reynoso told the Brooklyn Eagle. “It’s outrageous that the community was only offered a few days to comment on proposals that will permanently change Brooklyn’s waterfront. It’s clear that a port-first plan remains viable, and the BMTDC must meaningfully consider the alternatives the community has requested.”
Borough President Antonio Reynoso at a hearing about the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Project. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
City approves all three requests
Simon, Mitaynes, Avilés and Hanif sent their letter on March 23 to Su and EDC requesting that the city extend the public comment period.
In their letter, the officials, who had all served on the EDC’s original BMT Task Force, also urged the agency to host two in-person public meetings on the RFEI submissions, one in Red Hook and one in the Columbia Street Waterfront District. In addition, they asked the EDC to convene the two mandatory advisory panels: the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation and BMT Advisory Task Force.
Simon said Tuesday that “all three of the requests in our letter were granted.”
Rep. Dan Goldman. Photo: Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Rep. Dan Goldman, who acted as chair of the BMT Task Force, sent a separate letter to Su and EDC requesting an extension to the public comment period “until the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation has had the opportunity to collectively deliberate on the responses … in light of the Development Corporation’s responsibility to assess responses to the RFEI for feasibility of submission as an alternative scenario.”
On Wednesday, state Sen. Gounardes, who had served as co-chair of the Task Force along with Avilés, told the Eagle, “From the start, my goal has been ensuring a fair, robust process that gives our community a real say and ensures the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is as strong as it can be. This extension gives neighbors more time to review our options, and I’m grateful the city has been responsive to those concerns.”
Councilmember Alexa Avilés, BMT Task Force co-chair. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
EDC: Committed to ‘inclusive and responsive process’
“Meaningful community input and strong partnership with local elected officials are central to ensuring the success of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal project,” an EDC spokesperson told the Eagle on Wednesday.
“To support continued engagement and thoughtfully address community feedback, the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination is extending the Draft Scope of Work comment period to May 8 to allow additional time for public input. This extension underscores the city’s commitment to an inclusive and responsive process,” the spokesperson said.
Cargo-handling cranes at the Container Terminal within the Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
Columbia Street Waterfront, Lander and others respond
The Columbia Street Waterfront Association, which also submitted a letter in support of extending the deadline, expressed their appreciation for the extension.
“Columbia Street Waterfront Association is grateful to Deputy Mayor Su for listening to our electeds and our community and granting this essential extension to the BMT Draft Statement of Work comment period,” CSWA President Randy Gordon said Wednesday.
“EDC’s overview sessions of RFEI responses last week made it crystal clear we needed more time and information to address these in our comments,” he said. “We think this is an important step towards EDC recognizing the importance of allowing adequate time and real community engagement to this massive, truly once-in-a-generation project.”
Randy Gordon, President of the Columbia Street Waterfront Association. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
“Thank you to the Mamdani Administration for heeding the call of community stakeholders to extend the comment period, in hopes of building a broader community consensus than was achieved by the BMT Task Force,” said former Comptroller Brad Lander. “As I advocated in my comments on the Draft Scope of Work, in this time I urge them also to assess a broader range of alternatives for inclusion in the Environmental Impact Statement …”
“The Brooklyn Marine Terminal is not merely a redevelopment site. It is critical public infrastructure and one of the last working waterfronts in Brooklyn,” John Leyva, CSWA’s vice president, said in a separate community letter. “Ports are not real estate assets — they are transportation infrastructure. Once a working waterfront is lost, it is almost impossible to recreate. Decisions made here represent an irreversible and irretrievable commitment of public resources.”