Crappifying Ridgewood by hook or by crook

From QNS:

Two Ridgewood residences in historic territory are slated for redevelopment to make room for more apartments, according to Department of Buildings (DOB) records.

In March, a three-story, three-family building at 1663 Madison St. received a permit to add a fourth story to its existing structure, records show. Two months later, a three-story, six-unit building at 1664 Woodbine St. — directly behind the first building on the same block — received a permit in May to add a fourth story and a penthouse to its existing structure.

With both properties located on National and State Registers of Historic Places, the new developments set an “unfortunate” precedent for the blocks of attached brick homes and make local residents fear gentrification, said Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association President Paul Kerzner.

“In theory, you can take any building in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village that is not part of the city landmarks and that can happen to any property,” Kerzner said. “I’m also concerned about gentrification, because to me it’s the artificial transfer of property value because of speculation.”

A lifelong resident of Ridgewood, Kerzner explained that national and state historic status does not protect a building from redevelopment. Only city landmark status has that power, and the areas in question haven’t been designated as landmarks yet despite Kerzner’s efforts.

How do you help a hoarder?

From CBS:

Residents in Brooklyn are desperate to get their neighbor’s home cleaned up.

They say the historic landmark is now an eyesore with trash and junk piled high in the front yard.

It’s a beautiful tree lined block with million-dollar brownstones, but all kinds of things are piled up and pouring out of the front lawn of 253 Sterling Street.

People on Sterling Street said the woman who lives there hoards in her front yard, her backyard, and even in and on top of her car.

Neighbors say the homeowner has lived here for several decades, but the problem has gotten worse in the last few weeks.

Neighbors said they’ve called 311 and nothing has happened.

Civic leader says historic districts should be protected from noise

From the Times Ledger:

The LaGuardia Airport committee meeting at the Adria Hotel in Bayside on Jan. 25 brought one civic leader’s report that the Federal Aviation Administration may have overlooked rules pertaining to historic districts when creating flight patterns over northeast Queens.

Maria Becce, retired vice president of the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association and current member, said she had corresponded with officials in Washington about a 1966 law protecting historic places and Native American reservations from environmental impacts of airplane noise.

The Broadway-Flushing Historic District, established in 2006, protects the integrity of about 1,300 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places that have stood for more than a century. The neighborhood now sits below the NextGen flight pattern, enacted in 2012, particularly the TNNIS climb for commercial aircraft departing from LaGuardia.

According to a letter issued in November from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, part of the Office of Federal Agency Programs, to Katherine Andrus, the FAA’s federal preservation officer, stating the agency had issued a categorical exclusion, or CATEX, under the Historic Preservation Act which the FAA seemed to falsely believe gave it immunity from complying with Section 106, which calls for additional studies pertaining to historic districts, the letter stated.

Everything old is new again

Brownstoner has some pretty amazing photos of 2 houses in the Prospect Heights historic district which were almost completely lost, but were eventually resurrected and sold for millions:

Both houses have sold within the last two years, each for $3.4 million — No. 580 in 2015 and No. 578 in 2016.

But preservation is a waste of money...

Historic Van Wyck house is up for sale

From Curbed:

It’s not every day that an 18th-century Dutch Colonial house in New York City hits the market, but lucky for history buffs, today is one of those few.

Dating to 1735, the Cornelius Van Wyck House in Douglaston, Queens has come to market for what appears to be the first time in nearly 40 years. Seeking $3.25 million, the house is both a New York City landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places—and for good reason.

“The history of this house is intimately connected with that of the Dutch settlers,” the property’s 1966 NYC landmark designation report reads. The report goes on to explain that Cornelius Van Wyck, the eldest son of Stephen Van Wyck who emigrated from Holland in 1660, made his home here, eventually handing it over to his son Stephen, a delegate in the Continental Congress.

Stephen added to the house—the original footprint includes the dining room, master bedroom, and living hall—before selling it in 1819 to Winant Van Zandt, who would go on to add 120 acres to the property. While those 120 acres are no longer appended, the house still maintains an impressive swath of land along Little Neck Bay, making it one of the largest waterfront properties in Queens.

Destruction of Judge Garaufis' house proves need for landmarking

"This house, along with all of the houses on 40th Avenue from All Saints Church to 223rd Street, were included in a proposed historic district. It was ignored by then-Councilmember now-convicted felon doing jail time Dan Halloran. The current Councilmember, Paul Vallone, is also generally opposed to protecting our neighborhoods from destruction, as can be seen from his support to not allow the Douglaston Historic District Extension (along Douglaston Parkway north of the LIRR) to go forward. His press release stated that "landmark status imposes undue restrictions on the rights of homeowners to renovate, modify, or even sell their properties as they wish." This is total NONSENSE and typical of an elected official who got most of his campaign contributions from the real estate industry.

As for the specifics of this property: I just looked up what the plans are for "renovating" it. The house will be utterly destroyed. It will look like a brick box from the outside with an addition to the rear. Also, the property will be subdivided to include another detached brick box immediately next to it.

When Tony Avella, myself and the community worked to rezone Bayside a decade ago, it was only part of the story: if you don't landmark buildings or create historic districts along with it, zoning only has limited power to regulate what happens in your neighborhood. Yes, we stopped some of the worst abuses from occurring by changing the zoning in many areas from R3-2 and R4 (multi-family attached buildings) to R2A and R1-2 (detached one-family houses only). But, as can be seen, any property larger than the minimum like this beautiful house can immediately be subdivided and utterly destroyed." - Paul Graziano

More house destruction photos here.

And here's another example of the destruction of Bayside:

This is why something asinine like a "landmark compromise" as suggested by the Queens Chronicle won't work to preserve architecture that has historical and aesthetic value. The law needs to be have teeth to be effective.

Landmarked areas are as dense as non-landmarked areas

NYU Furman Center Historic Districts Brief by crainsnewyork

From Crains:

Landmark districts in New York City are just as dense at nearby areas that are not designated historic, according to a study released Monday.

The NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy found that about 3.5% of the city's properties are protected by the landmarks law. Properties with such a designation require approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission before an owner can make alterations.

Though landmarked areas had far fewer rent-regulated apartments than the rest of the city, they were built up to roughly the same density than adjacent neighborhoods, according to the report.

About the landmark backlog

Sorry to be late with this. The LPC decided to designate 3 of the 8 items on the backlog list for Queens:

Bowne Street Community Church
Lydia Ann Bell and William Ahles House
Pepsi Cola Sign

However, the following were removed from their calendar:

Old Calvary Cemetery Gatehouse - Van Bramer
First Reformed Church and Sunday School of College Point - Vallone
Proposed Douglaston Historic District Extension - Vallone
Spanish Towers - Dromm
Fairway Apartments - Dromm

Included are the names of the council members who did not support the designations of the dropped items.

Big turnout at Broadway-Flushing rally

Hi Crappie,
Here’s a photo from our rally yesterday. It was well attended with about 200 people, Senator Avella, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, Paul Graziano and many representatives from our neighboring civic associations.

Broadway Flushing has been seeking help from the Landmark's Preservation Commission for 10 years and have been met with continual and unwarranted disdain. We continue to enforce restrictive covenants in order to protect our community from development that is not covered under New York City zoning or building ordinances we currently have the strictest zoning in NYC and it is not protecting us. We are an excellent example of early to mid Century development of a suburban enclave within an urban setting along with our sister community, Douglas Manor, which was landmarked in 1997. The last few years, we have been under attack from developers who are preying on our large lots, tearing down houses and trees all the greenery that goes with it and building large brick boxes. We must break this pattern of destruction immediately or we will lose the very reason we all live here. We all bought into Broadway Flushing because of its architectural integrity and stately, suburban character.

-Janet McCreesh
Flushing

NY1 report

Queens Chronicle report

Vallone to block Douglaston historic district extension

From the NY Times:

On Thursday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a hearing, the first of four, to clear a backlog of 95 items that have been on the agency’s to-do list for up to four decades. Among them is the Douglaston extension, which in addition to 17 homes includes a Tudor-style apartment building, a church and an elementary school, most of which date from the 1850s to the 1910s. A final determination will be made next year on whether to declare these properties landmarks.

While many in the existing Douglaston Historic District, as well as New Yorkers across the city, might view living in a landmark with pride, there are those who consider it onerous. Where some see history and beauty, they see bureaucracy, expense and limitations on what they can do with their properties.

Councilman Paul Vallone, a Democrat whose district includes Douglaston, has already said he will block the expansion of the historic district in light of residents’ opposition. The City Council has final say over land-use matters, and members almost always defer to the local representative. As a result, Ms. Carroll, the commission director, anticipates the agency might not expend resources approving something that will only be defeated.

Queens properties to get LPC hearing

From the Times Ledger:

Preservationists were outraged in December when the Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City and seven other historic sites across the borough were put in jeopardy after the chairwoman of the Landmarks Preservation Committee proposed to remove them from consideration for protection. The blowback was so fierce that Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan reversed course less than a week later and decided not to “de-calendar” them and to consider a new plan to deal with a backlog of nearly a hundred buildings and sites citywide.

The LPC announced last week that its Backlog Initiative would begin addressing the properties with a public comment period and then a special hearing on the 95 properties that were placed on the commission’s calendar decades ago.

Each property, including the Douglaston Historic District, the Old Calvary Gatehouse in Sunnyside, the Bowne Street Community Church in Flushing, the Spanish Towers and the Fairway Apartments in Jackson Heights, the First Reformed Church and Sunday School of College Point and the Ahles House in Bayside will each get a months-long process of public review and hearings.

Throughout the period the public is welcome to submit written statements to backlog95@lpc.nyc.gov. Those statements will be entered into the record and be distributed to the LPC commissioners.

All Queens properties will be addressed at a public hearing on Oct. 8. Speakers will be allowed to testify for three minutes and can register by e-mail at backlog95@lpc.nyc.gov.

The LPC will vote for or against designation of each property in 2016. The commission can also choose to issue a “no-action letter” for some items, which would remove them from consideration but would not disqualify them from landmark designation in the future.

Avella calls on LPC to landmark Broadway-Flushing

Sen Avella Letter to Landmark B-F

More change to Broadway-Flushing

"Broadway-Flushing...make room for Malba...coming your way within 5 years! This is that other stately center hall colonial that is getting a "horizontal side extension". Keep sitting on your hands, Paul Vallone, and watch your classy nabe become Mc Mansionville. Located...west side 167 St towards Crocheron." - The Flushing Phantom

Fort Totten falling apart!

From the Queens Courier:

Fort Totten’s history is slowly fading away.

The historic Bayside park is home to several dilapidated and historic buildings that have been sitting vacant and in need of repair, according to the Bayside Historical Society. The oldest among these is the Willets Farmhouse, built in 1829, making it the oldest building in the area.

Despite the deteriorating conditions none of the buildings will be repaired anytime soon, according to city records.

A Parks Department spokeswoman said that the farmhouse was worked on in 2013 to stabilize it but the area is completely fenced off and no one is allowed inside to check the building’s condition. Abandoned NYC, a website devoted to decaying sites, published a photo tour of some of the buildings in 2012.

The Parks Department is in the planning phase of a $2.1 million restoration project, of the roofs of two historic buildings: the Chapel and the Commander’s House, both of which were built in the early 1900s, a parks spokeswoman said. But construction won’t begin until next year, leaving the two historic buildings exposed to rain and other natural elements that will eat away at the building.

The groundskeeper for the park said that if something isn’t done soon, the buildings would be damaged beyond repair. And as winter approaches, groundskeeper Mac Harris knows that the buildings will suffer.

“The roofs are not being repaired,” Mac Harris said. “The buildings are slowly being decayed.”

A whole lot of Ridgewood is now landmarked

From Brownstoner Queens:

Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the designation of the Central Ridgewood Historic District. The district spans 40 blocks of the neighborhood and covers 990 buildings — more than three times the total number of buildings in already-landmarked districts of Ridgewood. The district mostly consists of brick rowhouses built in the early 1900s, and includes the streetscapes of 69th Avenue, Madison Street, Catalpa Avenue (above), and the Meyerrose House at 66-75 Forest Avenue. Prominent architects featured in the area are Louis Berger (the architect of record for over 5,000 buildings in the Ridgewood-Bushwick area) and Paul Stier (who built about half of the houses in the Central Ridgewood Historic District). This district is, according to the LPC, “One of the most harmonious and architecturally-distinguished enclaves of working-class dwellings built in New York City during the early twentieth century.”

Boy, that LPC just loves landmarking rowhouses that face little threat of demolition or defacement, don't they? Individual sites on large lots they let get destroyed. I wonder why that is?

Dromm, Van Bramer, Vallone and Koo stay silent as LPC moves to decalendar properties

From DNA Info:

The Landmarks Preservation Commission plans to remove almost 100 sites and two historic districts from consideration for landmark status without formal public input, despite most being on the agenda for decades, officials say.

It's a move preservationists fear clears the path for the possible destruction of dozens of architecturally, culturally and historically significant buildings in neighborhoods across the five boroughs because it removes the preliminary protection that they were afforded while under consideration.

Being on the LPC's calendar provides the building with a modicum of protection because the Department of Buildings notifies the commission if building or demolition permits for a site with such a designation are requested. The commission then has 40 days to make a decision on a site's landmark status.

Landmarks Preservation Commission to Remove Almost 100 Sites From Consideration

But often, due to political pressure, the buildings remain in limbo on the calendar with the commission never voting, sometimes for decades.

LPC spokeswoman Damaris Olivo said the removal of the sites and historic districts is an attempt to "streamline" the much criticized process.

So let's run down the list of Queens sites that are on the chopping block:

Location: The Ahles House
Neighborhood: Bayside
Council Member: Vallone

The skinny: Tony Avella advocated for this site to be designated as far back as 2002. It was calendared in 2009, but was not designated due to threats by Dan Halloran to veto it at the Council. Paul Vallone has let it languish and as his campaign was heavily funded by REBNY, he's likely to keep his mouth shut and shrug his shoulders when it gets decalendared.

Location: Douglaston Historic District Extension
Neighborhood: Douglaston
Council Member: Vallone

The Douglaston Historic District Extension was also heavily advocated by Tony Avella and calendared in 2008, but Dan Halloran once again gave the nabe the middle finger. And I'll just ditto mark the Paul Vallone stuff from above... """""""

Location: First Reformed Church of College Point
Neighborhood: College Point
Council Member: Vallone

I couldn't find much about this nominee, but I think it's been on the list for quite a while with no action taken by LPC. There really is no reason why it sat on the docket without a decision.

Location: Calvary Cemetery gate
Neighborhood: Blissville
Council Member: Van Bramer

Location: Pepsi Sign
Neighborhood: Hunters Point
Council Member: Van Bramer

The fact that the above two potential landmarks are on the list really makes you scratch your head. Neither stands in the way of development, and the Pepsi Sign in particular is actually used as a marketing tool by developers and real estate people, so you'd think they'd want it landmarked. I guess these 2 aren't in Sunnyside Gardens, so they're just not a big deal to dear old Jimmy. Luckily, neither appears to be going anywhere.

Location: Bowne Street Community Church
Neighborhood: Flushing
Council Member: Koo

Why this isn't designated is interesting, since plans to do so stretch way back to 2003 when then-Council Member John Liu was allegedly pushing for it to prevent its demolition.

Location: Spanish Towers
Neighborhood: Jackson Heights
Council Member: Dromm

Location: Fairway Apartments
Neighborhood: Jackson Heights
Council Member: Dromm

And these apartment buildings are not under threat of demolition, so their non-designation is also weird, but I guess Danny Dromm has more important things to wring his hands about, like horse carriages and Asians protesting homeless shelters.

Perhaps if Dromm, van Bramer, Koo and Vallone voiced their support for landmarking at this hearing, these properties would be designated instead of removed from the list of potential designees. But don't hold your breath, folks. Here's the only letter I have gotten thus far from any elected officials about this:

South Street Seaport endangered

From WPIX:

Much of it was badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy. And while some shops and attractions have reopened, the Seaport is about to get a big facelift. But not without resistance.

“We are trying to preserve this district; the museum, the waterfront and the boats from unchecked development by a private developer,” David Sheldon of “Save Our Seaport” said Monday.

Sheldon’s group wants the historic details of the district to be respected. According to Sheldon, the proposed redevelopment will ruin the integrity of the neighborhood.

Many fighting redevelopment of South Street Seaport

“You walk down these streets, they are irreplaceable,” Sheldon said.

The Howard Hughes Corporation has proposed revamping the historic district. Early proposals show historic buildings alongside modern structures. Even a mixed-used tower is planned.

A spokesperson from the company said, “We are collaborating with the community right now as part of the Seaport Working Group to identify guidelines for the district that protect its historic fabric, support a vibrant future and address the infrastructure crisis on the piers.”

LPC rejects Aluminaire House

"Surprise! The Aluminaire is defeated.

I think nobody knew that the LPC was going to hand down a decision, but they did, and it sounds as if it was a unanimous against the Aluminaire House.

But please read on--

This victory was won by the hardest working activists (most of YOU), by the 40+ who took the day off to testify in person, by the 600+ in total who raised objection to the development proposal to the LPC, by the assistance of really smart allies at the Historic Districts Council and other preservation groups, by our elected officials and Community Board 2 who added major clout by testifying on our behalf.

Most especially we are grateful to Councilman Van Bramer for his uncompromising opposition from minute one to this wrong-headed plan, and for his assigning us the excellent help of Nick Gulotta on his staff.

[1] First way to celebrate-- call and say thanks to Councilman Van Bramer and Nick Gulotta at 718-383-9566, ext.5. You may not catch anyone in the office, but leave a quick "Thank you for saving us from the Aluminaire," or put that into an e-mail to JVanBramer@council.nyc.gov

[2] Then we need to re-group for Round 2, because the defeat of this development proposal is not the defeat of the next development proposal. If we are going to save this historic planned playground and its rare buildings so the public can enjoy it forever, we will need to persuade the City to negotiate right away to purchase the land and make it a park.

Thanks again to you, who will hear more soon from the envisioned Friends of Cautley Gardens Park -- and please spread the word, especially to neighbors you know who don't have e-mail.

Hurrah,

Herb Reynolds & the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance"

Forest Hills rowhouses historically significant

Photo by Michael Perlman

From Brownstoner Queens:

The Historic Districts Council just announced its annual list of six areas of New York meriting preservation, as part of its Six to Celebrate campaign this year. Over the year, the HDC will offer hands-on assistance in a number of preservation issues, like documentation, research, zoning, landmarking, publicity, and public outreach. Here in Queens, the HDC selected the Forest Close neighborhood of Forest Hills as an area worth celebrating. Here’s what they have to say about Forest Close:

Designed in 1927 in the spirit of the garden city movement, Forest Close is a charming nook of 38 neo-Tudor houses surrounding a shared communal garden. While the Forest Close Association maintains covenants that regulate design and open space elements of the community and advises residents on design guidelines for building projects, they are now exploring other tools to better protect the area’s special character. The Association is working to engage residents and local stakeholders to promote the preservation of this lush neighborhood in Forest Hills.

Thanks, but no thanks

Suggestions for the new mayor on how to create "affordable housing" from New York Magazine:

Give Queens a skyline.
The lion’s share of affordable New York will be constructed outside Manhattan, because of simple math—there’s more buildable land, and it’s less expensive. Western Queens is the likeliest focus. (Brooklyn, too, but there’s more being built there already.) Vishaan Chakrabarti, the SHoP Architects partner and Columbia University urban-planning maven, puts it this way: “Queens Boulevard, Long Island City—there’s [property] ten, fifteen minutes from Manhattan by subway that still has one- and two-story buildings. Queens, clearly, to me is the future of New York in many ways. I wouldn’t limit it to Queens, though—there are areas in the Bronx that have good subway access, and then St. George on Staten Island.” And those 200,000 units De Blasio wants? “Almost a Co-op City per year. I’ve been on the battlefield—it’s not easy, and it’s a lot of progressive politics rubbing up against each other.” Racism, classism, NIMBYism, ageism, and every other ism will come into play. So will every tool the administration has at hand: tax incentives that tilt the economics toward building at the middle of the income range; subsidies for lower-end building; and rezoning even in the wake of Bloomberg's rezoning.

Quit making everyone build a garage.
Almost every new residential building, notes the urban-planning strategist Alexander Garvin, is forced by law to include parking. It’s a dated requirement from the early sixties, one that cannibalizes land and makes every building more expensive.

Tax the hell out of vacant lots.
In New York (as in most cities), land and buildings are taxed as one entity, meaning that developers can accumulate land for years, waiting for a booming market to put something up. “Split-rate taxation” taxes the land itself at a higher rate, encouraging developers to build something sooner rather than later.

Do more horse-trading.
Bloomberg’s 80/20 zoning—80 percent of units are market-rate, 20 percent for people of modest income—can be taken further. Chakrabarti and his colleagues are working on 50/30/20 buildings, where the 30 is middle-income. And De Blasio ally Bertha Lewis suggests we could flip the 80/20 ratio entirely.

Lower permit costs.
It costs twice as much to put up a building here as in Chicago. Some of that is the price of land, but a 2005 study by the economists Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko revealed the surprisingly large role played by permit costs. “I’d like to see just a quicker, easier permitting process,” says Glaeser.

Stop wholesale landmarking.
Individual landmarks should surely be preserved; ditto certain blocks or districts that are genuinely of historic value. But when historic districts are widely extended, they significantly reduce the buildable area of the city, argues Glaeser, meaning rents go up everywhere else.

Live at the Javits Center.
No, seriously, says Chakrabarti: “I would look at moving the Javits Center to Sunnyside Yards” and replacing it with apartment buildings as the No. 7 train extension arrives. “It’s a huge opportunity for a new neighborhood.”

Sell off Manhattan’s projects and build bigger, better housing in the boroughs.
It’d be close to politically impossible, but relocating 115,000 NYCHA residents to the outer-boroughs could generate enough money to build several times as many units of affordable and true project housing in less expensive parts of the city. Consider: The housing projects of the Lower East Side are bigger than Stuyvesant Town, which sold for $5.4 billion.