CB13 votes down Creedmoor variance

From the Queens Chronicle:

At its Monday meeting Community Board 13 voted against a plan by a nonprofit group to construct two large apartment towers on the campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, stating that the project was out of character with the neighborhood and was not what the organization originally told residents it had intended to build.

CB 13 denied the group’s application for a variance by a vote of 22-1 with 16 absent. First Vice Chairwoman Tanya Cruz abstained from the vote and board member V. M. Chacko was the only one in favor.

In 2008, the Indian Cultural and Community Center purchased two parcels of land at Creedmoor, which is located at 79-25 Winchester Blvd. in Queens Village, near the Bellerose border. The approximately 4.5 acres are adjacent to the homes on the west side of 242nd Street, from Union Turnpike to 82nd Avenue.

The ICCC told community leaders the land would be used to build a community center, a multi-use athletic field and an above-ground parking lot, but the plan was changed to include two nine-story apartment buildings that would contain 126 units of affordable housing for seniors.

The project is not in compliance with the master plan created for the campus by former Borough President Claire Shulman, and the towers would be located 30 feet from its low-rise neighbors with no buffer for privacy or noise, according to Richard Hellenbrecht, the chairman of CB 13’s Land Use Committee. The apartment buildings would also completely obstruct the sunlight and vistas of neighboring homes, and could set a precedent for other similar high-density projects.