Friday, November 6, 2009

Community 1, Developer 0

From the Times Ledger:

A Bellerose civic association is proving it is possible to win a fight against a developer.

The Queens Colony Civic Association’s effort led to a Bellerose developer taking 2 feet off a property being built adjacent to St. Gregory the Great Church.

Mike Augugliaro of the Queens Colony Civic Association said the developer took off at least 2 feet from the property line so it is not as close to St. Gregory’s property as before.

“It had to cost him a fortune,” Augugliaro said of the developer’s work, although he said he still believes the home is in violation of zoning regulations.

The developer, Dharminder Singh, could not be reached for comment.

The civic began its fight with the developer about two years ago in a battle over whether the church’s survey or the developer’s survey was the correct one. During that time, the civic urged the city Department of Buildings to put a stop-work order on the property, but was unsuccessful.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the title. Developer 0??? More like Community 1, Developers 500.

But in order to make a fire we need a spark. Let's get together and take our communities back one lot at a time!

Anonymous said...

It's certainly a great start. Maybe you can fight City Hall.

Anonymous said...

During that time, the civic urged the city Department of Buildings to put a stop-work order on the property, but was unsuccessful.

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Remember your elected officals can change things, and since they don't, it should be entitled:

Community 1

Developers/Democratic Machine/Queens Newspapers 0

Remember they are all joined at the hip. Everytime you fight a developer, or DOB, their outrages are the result of a septic culture thriving because the city council (and their mouthpieces in the press) lets them.

Anonymous said...

Hey ... the same builder built two two-family houses on 172nd Street ... without any legal subdivision of the lot where there was once a single house... and he doesn't pay real estate taxes on one of the addresses.

No certificate of occupancy on either but the buildings are rented.

82-03 172nd Street and 82-07 172nd Street Block 7050 Lot 7 and Tentative Lot 8

Maybe we need a clearing house where communities can put building addresses and the names of the builders and architects.

Do you suppose the owner pays the taxes for having rental properties??

Anonymous said...

Maybe we need a clearing house where communities can put building addresses and the names of the builders and architects.

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There is a shitload of things that can be done, guys, but no one is going to fund it - not sexy like inner city poverty or starving kids in [your favorite country]

Of course there is the main line preservation community - they could easily fund something like this.

And you could play the lottery, which is a stronger option by far.

Anonymous said...

No one is funding Crapper, to my knowledge, and no one stays on top of things better than he does!

As for 82-03 172nd Street, the DOB inspector who visited the house twice was turned away on both occasions by a male occupant. Would this not indicate that there is someone residing there without a C of O?

As for the tax bill, a new one has been issued for this address to begin paying property taxes on January 1st, 2010. (Block 7050 Lot 8)

Better late than never! (But don't you just see stars when you realize how much tax revenue has been lost?)

Anonymous said...

82-03 172nd Street

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaint
Servlet?requestid=2&vlcompdetlkey=0001196082

Anonymous said...

Bellerose was once a great neighborhood...

Anonymous said...

Bellerose still is a great neighborhood.

As for 82-07 and 82-03 172 Street, a correction -- the tax bill is currently for one property and two buildings. The tax map was changed on September 10th, 2009.

However, there is still the matter of a rental of two 2-family buildings with no certificates of occupancy and the question about whether taxes on those rentals are being collected.

Oh, and .... isn't the Department of Buildings supposed to have the correct name of the owner on the applications for New Buildings? Dharminder Singh signed that he was the owner of these two new buildings but, in fact, he is NOT the owner of Block 7050 Lot 7.

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