From the Daily News:A LONG-DELAYED YMCA center at the Arverne by the Sea complex in the Rockaways is close to getting a green light from the city to begin construction.
The Mayor's Office is about to approve the project, which had been in limbo because of a local law that required it be LEED certified because it got more than $10million in city funding.
Ryan Whalen, chief of staff for Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, said at the inaugural public gathering of the Rockaway Task Force on Tuesday that the city "expects the construction to begin very shortly."
The announcement was greeted with applause by the 60 or so people in attendance.
The city would waive its requirement for LEED certification - which ensures that a building adheres to strict environmental standards.
To receive this waiver, officials with the developer, Benjamin-Beechwood, have been meeting with officials from the Mayor's Office since July to discuss how they could alter their designs, said Gerry Romski, the Arverne by the Sea project executive and counsel.
The designers have made enough alterations to the YMCA - such as using low-flow toilets and more environmentally friendly paint - to significantly improve its LEED ranking, Romski said.
Local Law 86, which took effect in 2007, requires that construction projects that get $10 million or more in city funding be LEED certified.
If the waiver is granted, construction on the $25 million center can begin "ASAP" and can be completed in 1-1/2 years, said Romski.
5 comments:
Hope that glass is bullet-resistant......
This shows the utter crap of passing "green" laws, and then the same people who passed the law for the rest of us, get to pick for whom gets the law waived.
If this Y can't afford to meet LEED requirements, doesn't that tell you something about the reasonableness of the law in the first place?
More of the Bloomies picking and choosing who has to obey laws and who gets special perks.
The YMCA is also planning to build a new Y in Flushing. Wonder if that one meets the LEED requirements. The people down in the Rockaways should demand free programming for the children. The Y they are planning on building in Flushing has said that they will give all children who are flushing residents free use of the Y. Wonder if this free use extends to the non Asians who live near this new Y.
Red tape, green light...it is New York. And there is a budget shortfall. That being said, I go to the Y in Bed-Stuy, in the heart of the hood. And there are no "gun-shot" problems. I'm hoping the same for this one. It looks to be ambitious.
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