Monday, July 12, 2010

Dutch Kills Advocacy League files suit vs. hotel developer

From the Daily News:

A GROUP OF Dutch Kills homeowners are going to court in their quest to stop a developer from putting up a nine-story hotel on a residential block.

They are suing developer Steven Bahar and the city agencies that granted him permission to build the hotel at 39-35 27th St. - even though Bahar missed a vital zoning deadline.

"We're not against development," said Barbara Lorinz, president of the Dutch Kills Advocacy League. "We just don't want or need these big high-rises next to one-, two-, and three-family homes."

Her group met with an urban planner yesterday to discuss ways to preserve and improve the community.

"Already, our neighborhood is out of character," Lorinz said of the glut of hotels that have popped up in recent years. "We have to set an example."

Lorinz is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed June 25 in state Supreme Court against the developer and city agencies, including the Board of Standards and Appeals. The suit claims the BSA should not have given Bahar permission to build the hotel because he failed to finish pouring its foundation before the zoning was changed in October 2008.

The current zoning restricts the height of new buildings unless they are grandfathered in under the old zoning.

Bahar declined to comment yesterday on the suit because he said he had not seen it.

"The BSA decided in my favor, and the BSA's decision is final," he said in an e-mail.

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