Mayor Bloomberg was on hand Monday for the groundbreaking on affordable housing units on Palmers Dock in Williamsburg.

Four apartment buildings will be built on the waterfront lot on Kent Avenue. One of those buildings will be affordable for people earning between $21,000 and $56,000 a year. Bloomberg says this is the first residential development since the city rezoned Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

A requirement along the waterfront is that for every building that goes up, a new waterfront park must be built. The parks commissioner says the city?s parks department eventually takes over the park and opens it to the public.

The buildings and some sections of the parks are scheduled to be opened in the next two years. The city has not started taking applications for Palmers Dock.