When fences make bad neighbors

Well folks, Gothamist has done it again. The blog that hates anything associated with perceived outer borough "whiteness" recently featured in an article the story of a loving Asian family who bought a home in Broadway-Flushing and wanted to erect a fence "to protect their kids" but was being thwarted by the big bad white homeowners association. Except that is not the case at all. Paul Graziano, urban planner, put together this rebuttal which also serves as a great Queens history lesson and a guide to others with, or seeking to buy, property in a deed restricted neighborhood. I'll also add that the homeowner in the Gothamist article has owned his home for 17 years and therefore must have been well aware of what he could and could not do with it. If not, then shame on him. Happy reading!

Gothamist Response RE Broadway Flushing Deed Restrictions February 21st 2020 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Gothamist Response RE Broadway-Flushing Deed Restrictions - Addendum - February 21st 2020 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Torres leading anti-tweeding investigative committee

From the NY Times:

If there was any lingering doubt that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mostly harmonious relationship with the City Council was about to change, Councilman Ritchie Torres may put that question to rest.

Mr. Torres, a Democrat from the Bronx, has been chosen by the Council’s newly selected speaker, Corey D. Johnson, to be in charge of a new investigations unit that will look into the operation of city agencies.

In an interview, Mr. Torres said that between 10 and 15 professional investigators, possibly including former prosecutors, would be hired and that the committee would use them to conduct its own inquiries.

Among the areas of possible investigative interest, according to Mr. Torres: “The abuse of placards. The use of eminent domain. The disposition of public land. Deed restriction. The disbursement of city subsidies,” he said. “All of it is on the table.”

Interesting timing - Rivington house figure fired right after Preet meet

From the Daily News:

The city official who approved lifting deed restrictions that allowed a Lower East Side nursing home to be flipped for luxury condos has been fired.

Ricardo Morales, a deputy commissioner at the Citywide Department of Administrative Services, was let go on Friday — hours after Mayor de Blasio’s highly anticipated sit-down with federal prosecutors, his attorney confirmed Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the firing.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating the Rivington deal as part of a broader investigation into whether de Blasio’s administration gave special favors to donors.

Guy Oksenhendler, an attorney for Morales, said he found the dismissal — in the context of the day’s events — to be highly problematic. “I find the timing of my client’s firing extremely suspicious,” he said. “Around the time that meeting would have concluded, my client was terminated.”

Oksenhendler added that he believes Morales was targeted by the mayor himself.

Fighting to protect historic neighborhood

From GoFundMe:

The Fenimore Street Block Association learned late last month (Jan. 2017) that a beautiful house on the southeast corner of Bedford Avenue and Fenimore Street is being targeted for demolition. A prominent Williamsburg developer recently filed for a permit to demolish 174-176 Fenimore Street. While no plans have been filed as of yet, we suspect that he will construct an as-of-right apartment building many times the size of the existing house.

For several years now, our Block Association has been fighting to preserve our neighborhood from non-contextual development that is quickly becoming the hallmark of new construction in PLG. We are currently in the process of initiating a rezoning application to change our current R6 zoning - which allows high density development - to R2, which only allows single family homes. This is due to our research, where we discovered that houses on the south side of Fenimore Street between Bedford and Rogers--including 174-176 Fenimore--have deed restrictions that explicitly prohibit the development of apartment buildings, as the language makes clear that only single-family houses may be built - like the rest of Lefferts Manor. We discovered that this side of the street was originally part of the Lefferts Farm and should have been included in both the R2 single family zoning which begins on the north side of the street as well as the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District, which covers the entirety of Lefferts Manor proper. In fact, as of this week, all 19 properties on the south side of Fenimore Street have been found eligible to be added to the National Register of Historic Places as an extension of the existing Lefferts Manor National Register Historic District.

The Fenimore Street Block Association intends to battle this developer in court with the understanding that we have a very strong legal leg to stand on. We are doing this because the courts have routinely deemed these original deed restrictions to be binding if found enforceable, which our zoning and land use expert has affirmed to be the case. However, we lack the necessary funds for a sustained legal battle. It is possible that there are other parts of PLG which also have enforceable deed restrictions as well and a victory in this case could set an important legal precedent for future court cases against developers.

City deed restriction lifted by donation

From DNA Info:

The city has struck a deal to build 38 affordable housing units on a formerly deed-restricted plot of land.

The area, formerly owned by the Dance Theatre of Harlem at 152nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, will be developed by BRP Companies.

Earlier this year, The Department of Citywide Administrative Services accepted $875,000 from the developer in exchange for lifting the deed restriction, which had been in place since 1976 and ruled it could only be used for cultural groups.

​The developer bought the lot for $3.1 million. They also made a financial contribution to one of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political causes, the New York Times reported. BRP Companies did not respond to a request for comment.

Oh, well that's never happened before! And is 38 units really a lot?

Council to strengthen certain deed restrictions

From the NY Times:

The New York City Council is expected to pass legislation on Tuesday that would require mayors to personally approve any alteration to or removal of a city-imposed deed restriction, and would create an online database to track existing deed restrictions and changes to them.

The bill, which aides to Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would sign into law, represents the latest effort by city officials to prevent the circumstances that allowed a protected Manhattan nursing home, known as Rivington House, to be sold to luxury condominium developers this year.

The proposed law creates new standards for the agency that handles deed restriction changes, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which approved the removal of the restriction on Rivington House in 2015 in exchange for $16.15 million. That action allowed a for-profit nursing home company, the Allure Group, to sell the property to a developer for a roughly $72 million profit early this year, after it had paid $28 million for the property several months earlier.

The transactions prompted overlapping investigations by the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the Department of Investigation, which found no criminal wrongdoing but highlighted breakdowns in communication between city agencies, and a lack of attention within the de Blasio administration. The New York State attorney general is investigating the matter.

Smoking gun memo revealed

From Bowery Boogie:

The Department of Investigation, whose scathing report last week proved a mishandling by the de Blasio Administration in the Rivington House deed fiasco, released evidence late yesterday that the Mayor’s office deliberately covered up crucial information regarding the ongoing investigation.

Specifically, a deal memo from July 2014 that weighed the pros and cons of allowing the sale of the Rivington House nursing home and potential deed lifting that required use of the facility as a nonprofit. Take a look at “Option 2″ of the document (go to link),”transfer property to another nonprofit.” The advantage to keeping it so was listed as “maintaining property under city oversight and creates needed housing in a high value neighborhood.” But the drawback stated was “no revenue” presumably for the city.

The Allure Group purchased the Rivington House from VillageCare in 2015 for $28 million, paid the city $16.1 million to lift a restrictive deed, then sold the property to developers Slate Property Group, China Vanke Co., and Adam America Real Estate for $116 million earlier this year.

meanwhile, de Blasio was cracking jokes about it while attending the DNC.

City Council wants deed restriction review to fall under ULURP

From DNA Info:

Local politicians say the city should make developers looking to modify deed restrictions go through the city’s thorough, months-long process for reviewing proposed zoning changes — a change they say is needed to prevent more community facilities from being turned into luxury condos after the loss of Rivington House.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilwoman Margaret Chin on Tuesday penned a letter to the City Planning Commission asking officials to subject any deed restriction changes to the city’s Uniform Land Review Procedure (ULURP), which the letter calls “the city’s gold standard of public review.”

The officials argue that the current review process around properties saddled with deed restrictions is lax and unstructured, pointing to the Department of Investigation’s damning report on the city’s lifting of the deed restriction on Rivington House — a former nursing home for HIV/AIDS patients that is now slated for a luxury condo conversion after the city lifted a deed restriction that would have kept it a nonprofit healthcare facility.

CB7 wants restriction on Waterpointe site

From the Queens Courier:

Members of the Community Board 7 Zoning Committee on the Whitestone Waterpointe redevelopment project recommended last week renewal of the project’s special permit on one condition: that the deed include a restriction that no more than 52 homes could be built on the 18-acre site.

The Waterpointe development has faced community opposition in the past due to proposed changes that would have seen 107 townhouses built on the space instead of the originally planned 52 single-family homes. As most of the townhouses would have been two-family buildings, this would have resulted in a total of 203 units in the space, or around four times the original amount.

The changes were abandoned after an uproar from community board members and civic groups, and developers have since gone back to the original plan.

The project’s architect, Joe Sultana, was at the meeting representing the site owners, the Edgestone Group. He brought with him a letter of intent from owner Gavin Feng, in which he indicated that Edgestone would not build more than the agreed-upon 52 homes. [Joe] Sweeney, however, said that he would not accept anything less than a legal deed restriction to allow the renewal of the special permit with the City’s Board of Standards and Appeals.

A decision on whether or not to endorse its renewal must be made as soon as possible so that the project can be presented to the public in the next CB 7 meeting scheduled for Monday, Oct. 19.

Avella introduces deed restriction registration bill

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.

No good deed restriction goes unpunished

As listed:

Enormous 120 x 100 Corner Lot in Prime North Flushing

* Detached Center Hall Colonial on SPRAWLING 100 x 120 corner lot
* Property ideal for user or builder -- Fix it up or rebuild
* Current house features
* 4 Bedrooms
* 3 full and 1 half bath
* Center Hall
* Formal Dining Room
* Eat-in Kitchen
* Finished attic with full bath and kichenette [sic]
* Zoned R1-2

From a North Flushing resident:

"This is a property that they think that they can subdivide. It's not subdividable because of the Rickert-Finlay covenant. They need 80' x 100' on the avenue and 60' x 100' on the mid-blocks. Judy is the WORST realtor around. She has been trying to wreck this place for the last ten years."