It’s been 20 years since The New York Times reported that city officials voted “to let developers turn the decaying north Brooklyn waterfront, with its relics of Brooklyn’s industrial past, into a neighborhood of residential towers with a parklike esplanade along the East River.” In the two decades since, this version of Williamsburg was replaced by the first generation of “hipsters,” glassy condo towers with Manhattan views, and throngs of Manhattanites crowding the L train to hit up Union Pool and Maison Premiere.

Now, a new rezoning is putting another Brooklyn neighborhood on the same path. This time, the waterfront is the once-toxic Superfund-designated Gowanus Canal.

Approved in late 2021 , the Gowanus rezoning covers 82 blocks and includes a plan to bring 8,500 housing units (3,

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