Community: Broken commitments at supersized Atlantic Ave. jail in Brooklyn

The design of the planned $3 billion Brooklyn Detention Center, at the site of the 70-year-old now-shuttered facility at 275 Atlantic Ave., has changed since an agreement was hammered out between the de Blasio administration and the community in 2019 — to the detriment of both the community and the inmates, residents and officials say.

Over the course of two public workshops and a presentation at Brooklyn’s Community Board 2, a number of changes have become apparent. 

These include: 

– Increased height from a max of 295 feet plus mechanicals to 337 feet plus mechanicals.

– Increased number of beds from 886 bed to 1,040.

– Number of therapeutic, mental health beds has been reduced from 40% to 20%.

– Parking spaces cut from 292 to 100. 

– Reduced tunnels connecting to the courts from two to one.

– With an increase in arrests and incarceration, the city doesn’t seem to have a coherent plan to address underlying causes. 

– $3 billion cost — possibly the most expensive building in the U.S.

‘Putting the cart before the horse’

Residents told the Brooklyn Eagle that they support the idea of a “new and humane jail” to replace the old one, but the scale and density of the proposed complex — at 712,150-square-feet —  is out of context with the low-rise surrounding brownstone neighborhood.

“The city says it’s in Downtown Brooklyn, but it’s not, it’s in Boerum Hill,” said Sandy Balboza, of the advocacy group Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association. “Someone said that it’s going to be 15 stories tall. I don’t know how they got that. It’s up to 337 feet, plus mechanicals on top of that.” The jail’s height and…