Co-op wants to mow down trees for clubhouse

From the Times Ledger:

Windsor Oaks Tenant’s Corporation is seeking approval by the Board of Standards and Appeals to amend a variance between the co-op and the neighboring housing development so they may clear a wooded area for a new clubhouse and 98 new parking spaces, according to Steve Behar, legislative council to Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens).

The variance to maintain the 100-foot wide section of trees goes back to 1951, when the co-op was built, and serves as a buffer between the two communities.

The land where the variance is in place is between Bell Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard and as many as 15 homes border the variance.

A Community Board 11 meeting in 2015 heard strong resident opposition to the plan to clear the woodland and the co-op’s application through CB 11 to amend the variance was shot down. In 2011, the Tenant’s Corporation had secured a loan to build the 5,000-square-foot clubhouse which was refinanced four years in a row without construction moving forward.

“In our last meeting before coming in front of the community board, it was suggested that we sit down with the residents of 77th Avenue and see where we could come together,” Windsor Oaks President Ronald Kaye said in 2015. “Sadly, they wanted no part of that. They just don’t want the project at all.”

But Behar said the co-op is not backing down from its resolve to level the trees standing between them and their future amenities.

“Over the years, they’ve cut down the trees, which they weren’t supposed to be doing under the variance, and now they’re asking the BSA to eliminate the variance,” Behar said. “This is a buffer between the cooperative and the homes. These people are up in arms because they bought their homes knowing that there was a variance, that they would be protected from this big co-op. We’ve also received a lot of complaints from people who live in the co-op, but don’t want this either.”

What exactly is a clubhouse needed for anyway? What hardship is associated with this?

Bye bye Bayside service station

Dear Crappie,

I'm sad to report that the Mobil station at the corner of Northern Blvd. & Bell Blvd. closed this week and has been dismantled. According to area residents I've spoken to, this had been a service station for as long as anyone can remember.

The only clue I have as to what happened is a postcard I received in the mail (I had my oil changed there many times) saying that the service station had lost it's lease. If anyone has any information about what's happening to this site, I'd be interested to know.

So much has changed along this stretch of Northern in just the last few years. The BMW detailing facility is now a blue, multi-story building. Pier 25A is closed and Burger King is scheduled to close and be redeveloped. It's hard to think that this site won't be transformed as well. Hoping for the best.

-Mike in (what used to be!) Bayside

So far, there's only a permit to remove the underground storage tanks. But with R6B/R4B/C2-2 zoning, prepare to see a giant pile of crap built in its place.

Record-setting Bell Blvd real estate deal

From the Queens Courier:

Buying a building on Bayside’s Bell Boulevard cost the area’s newest property owner a record-setting bundle.

Cushman & Wakefield announced on Monday it brokered a $4 million all-cash deal for 41-19 Bell Blvd., a single-story building currently leased to Lucille Roberts gym.

Measuring a total of 4,648 square feet, the new owner– AB Capstone– paid $860.59 per square foot, which the broker called a new record for the area.

Bayside blocks near LIRR popular for parking

From the Times Ledger:

Matt Carmody, the director of transportation for VHB, presented “heat maps” during the public meeting, which displayed the utilization of parking on residential streets within a half mile radius of the LIRR Station on 41st Avenue, color coding the streets at different times of day.

The streets with a utilization rate at or above 85 percent were marked in red. And between 8 a.m. and the end of data collection at 7 p.m., the residential street map of Bayside was almost nothing but red.

There are 12 permit-only parking spaces in the DOT lot as well as 47 short-term (four-hour maximum) parking spaces and 33 available long-term (15-hour maximum) parking spaces.

In VHB’s findings, the municipal lot does not fill up until the afternoon, around 1 p.m. But once it is full, it stays full, because there are limited options at that point in the day for parking on residential streets.

One of the most attractive short-term solutions to those community members present at the public meeting was to introduce a parking permit system for employees and business owners offstreet and on side streets, which VHB consultants said might take away some of the cars now parked in meter spots.

Other more long-term solutions proposed include working with DOT to reconfigure and stripe on-street parking spaces and readjust meter rates for different times of day. Also, Sclair said the BID would look into ways to encourage a private entity to buy the municipal DOT lot from the city to build a parking garage further down the line.

Bell Blvd building to meet wrecking ball

From the Queens Courier:

Longtime Bayside firm Pilling Real Estate closed a big sale—its own building.

After more than 30 years in the same Bayside office at 42-18 Bell Blvd., the firm packed up everything Monday, July 28, in preparation to move after owner Betty Pilling sold the building for $1.15 million in May, according to city records.

The new owner, Bell Realty, plans to transform the building, which was built in 1931 according to the Department of City Planning, into a three-story mixed-use residential and commercial structure.

The building will expand from two stories to three and will have four residential units, according to the Department of Buildings filings. It will be similar to the relatively new building next door, a four-story mixed-use residential and commercial building, where a new fried chicken restaurant plans to open on the first floor.

And here's what's next door:

Stop work order for new Bell Blvd GNC

From Bayside Patch:

A new business under construction with a stop-work order on Bell Boulevard will be a GNC store, a spokesman for state Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside said.

It was originally rumored that a CVS Pharmacy was being constructed at the site, which formerly housed Lucky Bell Store. But a CVS spokesman said that a drug store was not planned for the locale.

The city placed a stop-work order at the site, located at 42-09 Bell Blvd., on Nov. 13 after an inspector found that work was being performed in an “unsafe or dangerous manner,” according to a note attached to a construction wall at the site.

Avella’s spokesman said that the architect for the site recently told the senator that a GNC was planned for the location. He also said that the city’s Department of Buildings halted work at the site due to another project that was taking place over the summer on the first and second floors of the building that had nothing to do with the GNC’s construction.

The architect told Avella that violations at the site should be resolved by the end of the year and that the DOB wants to inspect the electrical system at the locale.

Bell Blvd getting trashed

From Bayside Patch:

Bayside community leaders said they were displeased with trash pick-up efforts along Bell Boulevard.

Two local community activists - Jack Oshier and Community Board 11's Frank Skala - say that the city often leaves bags of trash sitting on the commercial strip for three days at a time, especially on weekends.

"When we had that recent day of 90 degree weather, it smelled," Oshier said. "On Saturday morning, you'll find trash bags piled up on every corner. There are usually two or three, but sometimes as many as six."

The city's Sanitation Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

Oshier said the department has done a good job in terms of getting back to him to discuss complaints. But he believes the city does not have the manpower for trash pick-up in the community.

Long wait for Bell Blvd repaving

From Fox 5:

Residents and business owners say they're fed up with the rough road conditions on Bell Boulevard and Northern Boulevard in Bayside, Queens. They say the potholes and unpaved streets that are denting their cars and their livelihood. The road surface looks like craters of the moon.

State Sen. Tony Avella said the Department of Transportation started to fix the streets, stripped them, and never came back to pave.

Bike lane debacle on Bell

From Bayside Patch:

The City Council this week mandated that NYPD keep track of bicycle deaths, as Northeast Queens residents have expressed misgivings about bike lanes coming to Bell Blvd.

“After looking at the map of proposed routes, it appears that whoever created these paths has not travelled the routes themselves,” said Roz Sackoff, a resident of Bay Terrace.

If the Department of Transportation moves ahead with their plans, there will be marked bike lanes on parts of Bell Blvd., 212th St., 39th Ave., 32nd Ave. 26th Ave., 35th Ave, and the Clearview Expwy. service road.

A study done by the agency between 1996 and 2005 implicated large vehicles in 32 percent of bike fatalities, though they make up 5-17 percent of vehicles on the road.

Sackoff says she is concerned for the safety of bikers mingling with busses on 212th St., and 32nd Ave., which are bus routes.

“This is a curvy two way street with limited sight in some places,” said Sackoff of 212th St., also pointing out that there are many driveway exits from home garages that would cross paths with cyclists.

The proposed 26th Ave. bike path, which is near the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, would be harsh travelling on two wheels, she believes.

“I can definitely understand that a bus route would be a bad route for a bike lane, because the busses would have to keep coming in and out of the lane,” said Joani Emerson, whose husband, Jerry Emerson, owns Peak Bicycle Pro Shop in Douglaston, where the two met.

For Emerson, Bell Blvd., of all the new routes, would make for the most dangerous biking.

Council Member Dan Halloran, R-Bayside, had separate concerns about bike lanes on Bell.

“The last thing we need is to put up bike lanes — which nobody is going to use— to stifle business and take up parking spots,” said Halloran.

There is a bike path alongside Little Neck Bay which is separate from traffic and a lot more scenic. But I guess the city needed an excuse to use up a pile of money. (Wait 'til I show you where they plan to put bike lanes in Maspeth.)

Tough luck on tickets

From Bayside Patch:

Baysiders stuck with tickets issued on Bell Blvd. for parking during street cleaning hours will still have to pony up to the Department of Finance — even though the street hasn't been swept in years.

"As long as it was a violation when the ticket was written... then it's still a valid ticket," said Finance spokesman Owen Stone. "The law is written in a way that you have to obey the signs," he added.

Bell Blvd. has not had a street cleaning by the Department of Sanitation in several years. Signs prohibiting parking for sweeping from 8 to 9 a.m. on most weekdays were left up by the Department of Transportation until last month.

Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, had blasted the DOT at a Nov. 16 City Council hearing for its refusal to remove the signs. They were removed by the DOT shortly thereafter.

"Here, drivers were paying $100 tickets for street cleaning that hasn't happened in years," he said adding, "I won't stand for my constituents getting pushed around by city government."

Nonetheless, the collecting agency, Finance, is unmoved. They are not looking into refunding paid fines, or dismissing outstanding tickets.

"I'm 99 percent sure that there's nothing legally even that can be done," said Stone.

Alternate side regulations lifted along Bell Blvd

From Bayside Patch:

Bell Blvd. has not had a street cleaning in years, but signs prohibiting parking for sweeping from 8 to 9 a.m. on most weekdays were left up until this past weekend, leaving drivers vulnerable to tickets.

"Bell Boulevard has not had street cleaning in years due to the fact the area has maintained a high scorecard rating (above 90 per cent) which tracks the cleanliness level of both streets and sidewalks," said Department of Sanitation spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins.

"In order to remove the signs, Sanitation sent inspectors to the local [area] and made a recommendation for the Department of Transportation to remove the signs," said Dawkins. She did not indicate when the communication between the two agencies took place.

The DOT did not respond to an inquiry to provide a timeframe of when Sanitation suggested taking the signs down, as of press time.

"Thousands of my constituents have been ticketed by the City for a service they aren't even getting," said Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, adding, "Here, drivers were paying $100 tickets for street cleaning that hasn't happened in years."

Halloran had blasted the DOT at a Nov. 16 City Council hearing for its refusal to remove the signs. The Bayside Village Business Improvement District also met with the DOT earlier this month to extend parking hours on Bell Blvd, which, according to the BID, they have in some locations.

"Excessive ticketing along Bell is killing these local businesses, which are our primary job creators," said Halloran. "And this is ticketing for a non-existent city 'service.' I'm glad the Department of Transportation came to its senses. I just can't believe it took this long."

Stop work order issued for mystery restaurant

From the Times Ledger:

Construction at First Edition’s former site, at 41-08 Bell Blvd. next to the Long Island Rail Road station, has been underway on a two-floor restaurant and bar, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Buildings said. But she could not specify what type of eatery would replace the bar and grill.

The general contractor for the building is Flushing’s Joong Ang Construction. But a woman who answered the phone at the office said she did not know what type of establishment would be built at the Bell Boulevard locale.

A stop-work order was issued May 17 at the location after scaffolding being used outside the site violated building codes, a DOB spokeswoman said. But the developer merely needed to remedy the situation before resuming construction, she said.

The project entails removing a wall within the building and replacing plumbing fixtures. The renovation was approved March 18, but a permit has not yet been issued to approve plumbing changes at the site.

Brews Bros shut down

Uh oh...
When you run a bar, it's wise to hire licensed security and not to serve alcohol to minors or intoxicated patrons.
Whoops.

And I must say, the clientele along Bell Blvd has changed, and not for the better.