BSA approves Staten Island "Skinny House"

From SI Live:

When neighborhood residents saw the construction fence erected earlier this month on the narrow and long vacant lot at the corner of Decker and Orange avenues, it finally sunk in that a developer was serious about building a controversial two-story house that the city's Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) approved last September, over adamant objections of the local civic association and Community Board 1.

On Monday morning, two hand-printed signs had been placed over the developer's signage on the Orange Avenue side of the fence, accusing the BSA of "ruining neighborhoods one lot at a time."

"The BSA had a legal right to make the decision, but I'm opposed to what they did," Borough President James Molinaro said. "I'm opposed to using that land (for residential development)."

When the city sold the vacant parcel, it did not necessarily sell it "for the purpose of building a house on it," he said.

"I understand people's concerns," Siegel, president of Staten Island-based Cee-Jay Real Estate Development Corp., which owns and will build on the one-family home on the lot, said.

"I'm a developer. I don't make the rules or the regulations. I just try to abide by them," he said, describing his quest for zoning variances from the BSA as a "costly, arduous, and time-consuming process."

Abiding by the rules and regulations would mean respecting the existing zoning and not applying for a variance, sir. You created your own hardship and the city bailed you out. This needs to stop.