From the Queens Chronicle:State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and homeowner association leaders joined forces in front of his Bell Boulevard office on Friday to promote a new piece of legislation that would help keep the character of Queens’ neighborhoods from diminishing.
Avella is introducing legislation in Albany that would require homeowners whose properties are restricted by covenants to register their homes with the Department of Buildings, which in turn would have to review deed registries prior to issuing building permits.
As some communities in Flushing and Douglaston were being built, city planners and homeowners had a certain idea for how they should look. Covenants are a way of ensuring future developers do not change that vision.
In past years, these restrictions have not been followed and local groups have fought back.
“Why should these homeowner groups be doing the job of the city?” Avella asked. “They’re doing the city’s work.”
Civic leaders praised Avella for his participation, and echoed his concerns.
14 comments:
Avella is introducing legislation in Albany that would require homeowners whose properties are restricted by covenants to register their homes with the Department of Buildings, which in turn would have to review deed registries prior to issuing building permits.
Sounds like a good system, provided that the Department of Buildings follows the procedure and does its job without kickbacks and corruption. They don't seem to enforce much of anything under the current system.
Avella wasn't successful with the introduction of this same type of bill when he was a NYC councilman. I hope he will have better luck with this up in Albany.
What ever happened to the bill for term limits that Tony introduced?
so nothing is supposed to change, ever?
Good for Avella!
Anon no. 3: Relevance to this posting?
If there is a deed restriction, it carries down through ownership. The owners know what the restrictions are when they buy the property.
That being said, few properties have deed restrictions.
It's a start! Good for Avella and great news for Queens!
Crappy said:
That being said, few properties have deed restrictions.
Yes, even in an area like Broadway-Flushing, which is known for the Rickert-Finlay covenant, only somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the houses are covered by the covenant. (Mine is not.)
A short list of neighborhoods with *active* deed restrictions:
Broadway-Flushing
Station Road area (was part of Broadway-Flushing)
Douglas Manor
Westmoreland in Little Neck
Bellcourt in Bayside
Bayside Gables
Beech Court in College Point
Forest Hills Gardens
Van Court in Forest Hills
Arbor and Forest Courts in Forest Hills
Richmond Hill
Kew Gardens
in the Bronx:
Harding Park in Throgs Neck
Fieldston
in Brooklyn:
Caroll Gardens
Seagate
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens
in Staten Island:
Shore Acres
There are others that used to have deed restrictions that expired after a time limit(Cord Meyer in Forest Hills, Waldheim in Flushing) or were extinguished by membership (Malba). There are also a few others that I'm probably leaving out. All in all, it's a small but substantial list of neighborhoods that spend a lot of their own resources defending their deed restrictions.
Paul Graziano
The Office of Environmental Remediation uses deed restrictions to flag contaminated properties (whatever happened to "little e" designations?). This has led to situations where capping hazardous crap is irrelevant when the property is developed with, say, a sub-basement. OER maintained the deed restrictions were suffivcient - until several glaring examples were brought to their attention. NOW they say DoB should flag... btw, restrictions must be recorded on the Certificate of Occupancy. But who cares? Enforcement is nil.
How's that fence around the property at 158 Street and 35 Ave. working out? Last time I passed this property the masonry fence was still there. Didn't the local civic association win a lawsuit to have it removed?
How's the fence around the property on 158th St........
You should contact the BFHA and ask them. Are you a member? If so you should know. If not, ask them, not the anonymous general public on Queens Crap.
There was once a tall plastic fence around a house on the northeast corner of Crocheron & 164th Street that BFHA successfully got removed.
Wake up fella! Attend some BFHA meetings!
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