Isack Rosenberg, the developer of the large planned project known as Rose Plaza on the south Williamsburgh waterfront in Brooklyn, agreed to reduce its number of units and increase the number of its affordable units but Councilman Steve Levin said at a hearing yesterday of the land-use committee of the City Council that the project should still have more affordable units and some four-bedroom units, according to an article yesterday by Aaron Short at yournabe.com.

The developer had agreed to cut the project's total number of units to 776 from 801 and to increase its percentage of affordable units from 20 to 28 percent.

"Rosenberg's attorney Howard Weiss defended the project, saying that the levels of affordable housing were consistent with other privately developed sites on the waterfront - and that doing more would cut so deeply into the developer's profits that the project would not be doable," the article said.

The Council's debate over Rose Plaza is one of the last steps in a process to rezone 3.7 acres of waterfront property near Kent and Division avenues.

The project had been approved by the City Planning Commission in March, despite being rejected by Borough President Markowitz and Community Board 1 and the article noted that the future of the project "remains up in the air, as Levin has been lobbying colleagues to vote it down and councilmembers typically vote with the local representative on land-use issues."

An article by Andy Campbell recently at thebrooklynpaper.com said that "the controversial, multi-tower project along the Williamsburg waterfront moved a step closer to approval when the City Planning Commission voted to approve it 7 to 5.

The site currently is occupied by a lumber yard and is south of the Schaefer Landing complex and just outside the area that was rezoned in 2005 for large towers with 20 percent affordable housing.

The site is presently zoned for manufacturing but it rezoned Rosenberg wants to build three towers of 18, 24 and 29 stories.