Housing addition ruins streetscape

From the Daily News:

Residents on a Borough Park block are feuding over a hulking house addition that neighbors charge cuts off their light and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Neighbor Debbie Lotito, 53, said she was shocked when the bulky three-story cement structure started going up in front of a rowhouse on her 40th St. block this summer.

"It is an eyesore," she said. "They built right on top of the other neighbors ... It's really ruining the block. It's one of the most beautiful blocks in Borough Park."

The construction juts out onto the sidewalk over space that most houses on the block between Fort Hamilton Parkway and 12th Ave. use as a driveway or front yard or garden.

"If you look out the window, all you see is a cement wall," Lotito said. "It's blocking our vision ... People don't get any sunlight. They feel very closed in."

Thirty-five residents on the block have joined her in signing a petition opposing the project.

City Buildings Department permit records suggest that the $158,000 project is intended to add additional apartment units to the building.

Owners Eli and Breindle Katz, who live across the street, did not respond to requests for comment.