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Parole Office Doesn't Belong in Industrial Gowanus, Borough President Says

 The construction site at 15 Second Ave. in Gowanus, where a reporting station for parolees is planned.
The construction site at 15 Second Ave. in Gowanus, where a reporting station for parolees is planned.
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DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

GOWANUS — A parole office serving Brooklyn's ex-cons doesn't belong in industrial Gowanus, says Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Adams released a statement this week asking the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to find a different spot for its new Brooklyn parole headquarters, which is slated to open in January 2015 at 15 Second Ave. in Gowanus.

“[T]he placement of such a facility should not come at the expense of the city's limited manufacturing zoned land stock,” Adams said in a statement. He recommended that DOCCS find a site in a commercial area that's not in an IBZ — an industrial business zone — designed to promote manufacturing businesses.

“As a general rule, our determination of siting a facility should not be based on land price, but rather on the resources in the surrounding area that can make that facility best serve its community purpose,” Adams, a former police officer, said in the statement.

A DOCCS spokeswoman declined to comment on the statement.

Adams' request comes as community opposition to the parole center is gathering momentum. Local groups, including the PTA of P.S. 372 on Carroll Street, are circulating a petition demanding that DOCCS halt construction on the facility until neighbors get answers to questions they've asked about it.

The three-story building will serve roughly 400 ex-inmates a day.