From the Times Ledger:Community Board 11 voted unanimously to oppose a proposal to clear the way for an empty Bayside lot to be developed after a series of area homeowners testified against the plan at a Monday night meeting.
For Our Children Inc., a holding of Richard Alexander, owner of Lund Fire Products — bordered by 215th Place, 216th Street, 40th Avenue and the Long Island Rail Road — has been trying to develop a vacant lot next to his business for years.
Alexander’s attorney, Simon Rothkrug, presented a proposal to build a 6,790-square-foot, one-story office building on the residential-zoned parcel. In order to move forward with a commercial development on the spot, a variance to allow commercial use would have to be approved.
But CB 11 members and neighbors balked at the idea, saying Lund already contributes to traffic and parking woes in the area and that an office building would be out of character with the existing neighborhood.
The proposed building, which had no committed tenants, would have provided 12 parking spaces, which residents called insufficient.
Alexander was on vacation and unavailable to comment Tuesday.
Rothkrug returned to CB 11 Monday night to present the scaled-back proposal. He said the site could be developed as detached residential but that due to a 2005 downzoning of the area, only four small homes would fit on the property, which would not yield sufficient economic benefit for Alexander.
“The argument that they need a rate of return is simply stating that they made a bad investment and now they want the community board to fix it,” board member Steve Behar said. “The last thing the area needs is more office space .... There’s already too many trucks in this area, and there’s already no parking.”
5 comments:
So office building with spaces would contribute too more traffic but 4 homes wouldn't?
Keep the vacant lot open, maybe when the rats come CB11 will come to its senses
Commercial uses always contribute more to traffic. You think we just fell off the turnip truck?
Way to go CB11, enough of the BS, and anon 1 are you for real? This is the new rational it would appear, "commercial and residential is the same when it comes to affecting the community, private property owners have the right to build on the thier property, screw the existing community, etc..."
The problems that affect our communities due to overdevelopment has become a serious problem. We need to be move vigilant, in protecting our investments, our families, and our neighborhoods. Stick with the character of the neighborood, and enough development without taking into consideration the impact on the community.
Alfredo
Another case where a developer made and lost the bet - that they could change the zoning so that it would maximize the property's value when they flip.
Well, we certainly don't need more parking.
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