Whole Lotta Tony

Suggestions to improve the Department of Buildings? Calling out City Planning? Just another week in the life of Councilman Tony Avella.

On Friday afternoon, the plucky Queens pol will be holding a rally in front of a planned three-family house to demand DCP undertake the North Flushing rezoning they promised would be done about a year ago. The site is on a block of one-family homes that is currently zoned R-4, leaving the developer's options fairly wide open. The other side of the street, however, is zoned a more appropriate - given the existing housing stock – R-2. You can still see the modest foundation of the previous home in the photo of the actual site. We’re sure Avella will have a few other areas to offer up where he feels DCP’s been dragging their heels as well.

Meanwhile, this afternoon Avella called on DOB to implement a system similar to one that exists with the Department of Sanitation and reporting illegal dumpers. Citizens would be allowed to sign affidavits stating that they saw illegal work taking place on a site (Avella argues that in many cases, by the time inspectors arrive the work has already been completed), which could then be used in a legal case to retroactively impose fines. The DOB has already done it once, and the Environmental Control Board levied a $2,000 fine. The person who filed the affidavit? You guessed it – Tony Avella.

Amusingly, we also got a chance to see Avella at work, when just as the press conference was ending, he riffed on his own proposal, throwing in the idea that the person who signs the affidavit could receive a portion of the fine, just like with the Sanitation program. (We swear we saw a light bulb over his head.) In this city, we think we could turn that into a full-time job.

You can read an interview with the mayoral hopeful that ran in The Brooklyn Rail here.

Western Jackson Heights Alliance Demonstrates a Successful Demonstration

The Western Jackson Heights Alliance, a group that is actively trying to clean up slow the overdevelopment of their neighborhood, got a chance to present their agenda to Mayor Bloomberg, though in an unorthodox manner. Staging a demonstration in front a town hall meeting with Jackson Heights merchants that they were not allowed to participate in, Will Sweeney of the WJHA had the chance to speak with mayor for a few moments. Luckily, the interaction was caught on tape by Fox 5. For a more in depth look at the problems Jackson Heights is facing, Sweeney’s conversation with the mayor, and the fallout from the protest, check out next week’s papers.

Domino Sugar Plan Sweet For Some, Sour To Others

More than 100 people argued the pros and cons of the proposed Domino Sugar factory project last Tuesday, for which the Community Preservation Corporation, a managing partner in the development, has requested a zoning amendment.

The Department of City Planning had scheduled two public hearings - one at 2 p.m., the other at 6 p.m. - to field comments about CPC's 2.6 million square-foot proposal, which would contain residential, commercial, and community facility space.

Ostensibly, the hearings were intended for feedback regarding the Draft Scope of Work for the project's Environmental Impact Statement, which was released last week. But few attendees mentioned environmental aspects they would like to see added, concentrating instead of arguing the merits of a structure that will radically alter Williamsburg's waterfront.

The earlier session featured approximately 70 attendees, including City Council member Diana Reyna, as well as a representative from State Assemblyman Vito Lopez's office. In her testimony, Reyna expressed a willingness to support CPC's requested height increase if the number of affordable units also goes up to 1,000 units from the 660 planned.

On the other hand, the official for Lopez said the assemblyman was looking for a decrease in height and density while retaining affordability. "Why does affordable housing always have to manifest itself in height and density?" stated his testimony.

During the latter session, half as many attendees showed up, but evenly-matched numbers of people commented for and against the project. Some detractors, like Nancy Buivid, who has lived in the area since 1983, asked that DCP consider alternatives to the proposal in order to preserve the area's quality of life.

She complained the project, with its planned 300-foot and 400-foot towers along the waterfront, would shroud homes like hers in total darkness at sunset. "It's just not right," Buivid said.

Meanwhile, another neighbor, Susan Pellegrino, who lives on Wythe Ave., worried the development would tax the local infrastructure, including the L-train, beyond what it could handle. "I don't believe our tiny little neighborhood can support that many more people, even with ferry service," she said.

But supporters like James O'Shea, executive director of the not-for-profit Churches United Corp., said any negative aspects would be offset by one major positive - affordable housing for families who might otherwise be displaced by rising rents.

"There is not one family I know who needs a home who would bat an eye at taller buildings," he said, noting the market-rate units would finance the affordable ones. "Domino gives us the opportunity to be bold. The needs of our families demand nothing less."

You can read even more about the hearing at Times Ratner Report.

The Very Vest of Ft. Greene/Clinton HIll

When do you consider a building well on its way to being done? Once the walls start to rise? Immediately following the ceremonial topping-off? Its first mention on Curbed? Well, if you have the same criteria as DOB, a building is nearly complete once the foundation is fully poured.

That's why the rezoning that was passed by the City Council last week for 99 blocks in the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene area can be a bit misleading. While the downzoning will go a long way toward protecting the low-rise character of many of the neighborhoods' blocks, some of the out-of-scale development that spurred the rezoning in the first place will still be allowed to go forward despite the fact they are little more than holes in the ground.

In this week's Ledger/Star, we take a look at some of the bigger projects, as well as some another high-profile one that was stopped (see rendering) by DOB almost as soon as the last vote was cast in the Council. Unfortunately, a list of all of the buildings that were vested (DOB's terminology for projects that will be allowed to proceed under the old zoning) came after the paper went to press, so here is a list of all sites currently under construction and their new status:

VESTED
93 HALL STREET
75 GRAND AVENUE
73 GRAND AVENUE
72 STEUBEN STREET
56 CAMBRIDGE PLACE
174 CLERMONT AVENUE
268 CUMBERLAND STREET
122 ADELPHI STREET
97 GRAND AVENUE

NOT VESTED
163 WASHINGTON AVENUE
415 CLERMONT AVENUE
404 VANDERBILT AVENUE
447 CLINTON AVENUE
398 CLASSON AVENUE
420 CLASSON AVENUE
1057 FULTON STREET
478 GRAND AVENUE
457 GRAND AVENUE
4 LEFFERTS PLACE
66 CLERMONT AVENUE
163 WASHINGTON PARK
161 ADELPHI STREET
266 CUMBERLAND STREET
290 CARLTON AVENUE
120 SOUTH ELLIOTT PLACE

According to DOB, all non-vested properties have been issued stop work orders.

TGE: They're Baaack!

Call it the power plant that just won't fizzle out.

TransGas Energy (TGE) has filed a petition with the New York State Board on Electric Generation and Siting and the Environment (hereafter the "Siting Board") - (reading that entire legal brief must have influenced us a bit) - to overturn its June 25th Order that TGE get the necessary approvals from the city to tear up streets and other public right-of-ways to put in underground pipes and steam tunnels.

To make a long story short (the issue will be covered in greater depth in the August 2nd print edition), attorneys for TGE argue that requiring city approval runs counter to the Siting Board's legislative intent, which was to bypass local municipal law that held up the construction of major electric generation facilities. From the legal papers:

A "realistic appraisal" of the statutory language and the legislative intent leads to the conclusion that the Board must have the authority to allow use of the City's property, even over the City's objection, in order to carry out the legislature's intent to elevate the siting of major electric generating facilities to a state, not a local function.

According to TGE's lawyers, the state has basically handed over the decision on whether or not to construct the power plant to the commissioner of the city's Department of Transportation, which would have to grant permits to tear up city streets. The city has been adamantly opposed to the plant, envisioning the North Brooklyn waterfront parcel where TGE wants to build the facility as the home of a future park, as outlined by the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning.

This is just the latest in what appears to be a neverending cycle of legal maneuverings on the part of TGE, which has included suing the city and holding their own confusing eminent domain hearing.

TGE Nearly PUlls Off Public Hearing Under Community's Nose
Efforts to Condemn Bayside Fuel Site Continue
Judge Puts Park Plans on Hold

Domino Sugar Factory Hearing Tuesday

Public Scoping Meeting on the proposed Domino Sugar Rezoning

On July 31, 2007 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and from 6:00 PM to 8:45 PM, the Department of City Planning, on behalf of the City Planning Commission, will hold a public scoping meeting on the Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be prepared for the proposed Domino Sugar Rezoning. Comments on the Draft Scope of Work will be accepted at the meeting and for ten days following the meeting.The meeting will take place at the City of New York Department of City Planning, Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, New York 10007.

For a draft scope of the DEIS click here.

UPDATE: Norman Oder has some good Domino analysis and comparisons to the Atlantic Yards project on his blog.

Innovative Development Launches in Greenpoint

Greenpoint Lofts, a development of business condos on Norman Avenue, held a large launch party on the roof of their five story building last night. The development is billed as Brooklyn’s first commercial condominium, which means that the individual lofts can be purchased and used for business purposes. This type of building is very big in Queens.
The event featured local business owners and artists in the fifth floor lofts spaces, as both Brooklyn neighbors and savvy folks from Manhattan were invited to tour the still under construction project. Word has it that 30% of the units have been filled, which I’m told is quite impressive. The party featured a catered rooftop party and I even got a massage. For more information on the development, check out greenpointlofts.com. Massage courtesy of greenhouseholistic.com.