Monday, December 24, 2012

Koo supports developer over CB7's wishes


From the Times Ledger:

Two Flushing property owners have built multi-story buildings on a block in hopes the area will be rezoned — a multimillion-dollar gamble that received support from a neighborhood lawmaker last Thursday.

That support, in the form of a letter from City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), in turn created friction between the lawmaker and the community board.

A group of five property owners is seeking to rezone the block between Fowler and Avery avenues and College Point Boulevard and the Van Wyck Expressway. Regulations currently allow a variety of uses under the category of manufacturing. But the group, which collectively owns 85 percent of the block, wants the City Planning Commission to change the zoning to allow residential, commercial or a combination of both.

And even though the zoning change is still being reviewed, some of the property owners have already spent millions erecting structures that would comply with new regulations.

The plan was skewered by Community Board 7 last month over uncertainty of what the final product would look like and what leaders said is a lack of development experience on the part of the owners.

The team received a letter of support from Koo, who hoped the rezoning would revitalize the area, near Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

“The councilman has great respect for the community board and what they do,” said Koo’s chief of staff, James McClelland. “However, in this instance he disagrees with their opposition.”

That did not sit well with the board. Vice Chairman Charles Apelian said Koo’s letter voids the review process, since the Council has the final vote on the matter and members typically vote along the lines of the local lawmakers’ wishes, though Koo’s office contends that giving input after the board makes up its mind is standard procedure.

6 comments:

Jerry Rotondi said...

CB#7's wishes and opinions amount to (please, excuse my "French") just a fart in a typhoon!

They have no real power. It's all window dressing!

Their votes are advisory. Maybe we don't need community boards at all--UNLESS their votes are made binding!

Does Councilman Koo think that this latest attempt to "revitalize" Flushing will work, where all of the others have seemingly failed?

Lot's of luck Peter and James.

For 30 years the "town fathers" have been trying to "improve Flushing.

Maybe I'm nearsighted, but--does anyone else out there see any major "improvement", besides overbuilding and congestion--accompanied by inadequate infrastructure and poor delivery of services?

Happy holidays, everyone. "I'll retire to Bedlam", as Ebeneezer Scrooge had said.

Anonymous said...

Isn't the developer Chinese?
Is Koo Scandinavian?

Blood is thicker than following any rules.

Chinese developers do WTF they please.
Break the law first, then offer bribe afterwards
to legalize their projects.

Tommy Huang wrote "The Bible" on this.

If Queens is considered the "wild west" for developers, (even by the DOB) then Flushing has got to be "Deadwood"!

Aren't Kelty and Apelian showing their concern about 20 years too late for this crummy town?

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that Peter and his English translator, James, are both gone soon.

Will Dennis P. Gallager, Koo's political "advisor", be gone or will he attach himself to the next city council member?

Who in his right mind has a convicted rapist "advise" him...and on what?

Cuckoo Koo...aparently...that's who!

Anonymous said...

James McClelland? Good Lord, that vertically challenged, make believe "war veteran" (yeah, ok!) has anything to say?

Anonymous said...

Koo's supporters don't even know Queens is on Long Island or that we have clean, swimmable beaches on both the Atlantic and Sound shores. This proves they do not want to live here, only exploit us as they are passing through.

Anonymous said...

Wow, they built it and THEN asked for the zoning changes? The structures should be torn down and anyone who developed these projects should be banned from building ever again. Did they even have permits? How can they get permits if it doesn't meet the current zoning requirements?