Monday’s event was a hearing on the city’s draft Scope for rezoning 27 acres of Coney Island as historically preserved public land. Department of Planning Brooklyn Director Purnima Kapur addressed the audience last night, elaborating on the city’s initiatives as they have changed since the last scoping hearing, in February; mainly, the expansion to 27-acres of amusement area, up from 9, and the movement of indoor amusements toward the southeast extending from Steeplechase Plaza.

If City Planning gets its way, developer Thor Equities, which owns much of the land, will have to scale back its plans to build condo towers on the site. Yet the city proposal still retains much of Thor’s vision, including “indoor amenities,” like big-name retail, and adding 2,700 new housing units, on what Kapur calls “vacant and sparsely utilized” land.

Scoping is a vital preliminary step in the city’s land use review process, because it sets the boundaries of what can be included in the Environmental Impact Statement and therefore what a rezoning can accomplish. The public hearings are required by law, but City Planning is under no obligation to follow through on ideas or concerns voiced by those who testify.

In the case of Monday’s hearing, it would be hard to pick one view, since so many were voiced at the hearing. It was hard to even hear Kapur amid the round of boos that erupted during her presentation, which echoed much of what was said on the steps of the auditorium, before the meeting even began.

Cultural and historical preservation were very much on the minds of demonstrators like the Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping, “Can I get a coney-lulah? Can I get a freak a lulah?” the Rev. Billy rallied the crowd in the auditorium. Other performance artists joined the chorus against new development, presenting posters that read “Coney Island not Condo Island.” The Queen of last Saturday’s Mermaid Parade, Savitri D, and, Coney Island Museum director Dick Zigun, also testified against the City’s plans.

This was noteworthy because until recently, Zigun served on the Coney Island Development Corporation, the Bloomberg Administration’s local partner on the redevelopment. He tendered his resignation at the hearing. “Two months ago,” testified Zigun, “the process broke down. “ City Planning, as he explained it in his resignation letter, unilaterally changed the strategic plan for the area to allow for a bigger presence of high-rise housing and retail, and fewer acres dedicated to amusements. “The city gutted our plan. I didn’t leave the CIDC. The CIDC left me.”

Others who spoke supported development in Coney Island, under certain conditions. As John Blyden of the group Coney Island CLEAR (Community Labor Empowerment Alliance for Redevelopment) said, the opposition was there to “maximize benefits for residents…and clearly define what affordable [housing] means in this redevelopment plan.” Representatives from Laborers Local 79 and ACORN voiced similar views. Several neighborhood residents also testified in support of the City plans.