Flushing West seems to be permanently dead

From the Times Ledger:

The city’s abrupt decision to withdraw its plans to rezone Flushing West, which would have brought 1,600 units of housing to the downtown area, has drawn mixed reactions from the community.

Some say it was a good move due to key infrastructural problems for which the city did not have concrete solutions, while others say it was a missed opportunity for the community.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal sought to clean up and rezone 60 acres on the Flushing waterfront and form a planned community with waterfront access for housing and commercial space.

Although State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) was the first elected official to oppose the plan and was joined by state Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing), the project fell apart when Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) asked for it to be withdrawn in a May 27 letter to City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod.

Koo cited the ongoing problems with airplane noise from LaGuardia Airport and the need for remediation in Flushing Creek as the key factors motivating his shift in opinion. He alsmo mentioned other issues, such as the proposed development’s proximity to the overcrowded No. 7 train.

He said the city could decide to pursue the proposal again in a year or two if tangible solutions are made to fix the problems.

“The residents would be very unhappy if they lived there, all these airplanes coming in the morning — it would drive them crazy,” he said. “Flushing Creek is so dirty. I wouldn’t want to stay there for 10 minutes, let alone 24 hours and every day.”

City Planning said it could revisit Flushing West if those issues are resolved.

And I'm sure Flushing Creek will be cleaned up and LaGuardia Airport will close soon.

Flushing West dead

From the Crains:

The de Blasio administration abruptly scrapped plans to rezone a portion of Flushing, Queens, last week in response to problems with the proposal. The neighborhood was set to be one of 15 areas that would be targeted for residential development in order to advance the mayor’s affordable-housing agenda.

On Friday, City Councilman Peter Koo, who represents the area, sent a letter to the Department of City Planning outlining his objections to turning 11 industrial blocks between the polluted Flushing Creek and the terminus of the No. 7 train into a new neighborhood, Flushing West, that would include retail, open space and affordable apartments. That same day, the head of the department wrote back that the city shared many of his concerns, and would withdraw its plan.

"We will turn our attention and our priority to planning efforts to other neighborhoods," wrote Carl Weisbrod, head of the planning department.

The about-face means that the city will have to look for another neighborhood to be part of the 15 rezonings Mayor Bill de Blasio promised in the spring of 2014, when he announced his Housing New York plan. So far, the city has approved its first overhaul in Brooklyn's East New York and has announced similar intentions for a handful of other areas in the city.

A rezoned Flushing West would have potentially sprouted 1,600 apartments, affordable and market-rate. But Koo envisioned a number of complications along with strains on the area’s infrastructure and transportation, some of which resonated with city officials.

Ok, so does Shulman have to give back her grant money now?

Flushing West won't be financed

From the Queens Tribune:

Community Board 7 brought together city agencies, developers and community members to discuss potential impacts of the rezoning and development anticipated for Flushing West at a public forum last Tuesday.

The meeting highlighted the incredible amount of coordination and planning that would need to go into development in the area, which could see about 1,000 new units in the neighborhood at 13 projected development sites. An additional 13 sites and 1,000 units are not likely to be developed before 2025.

If the planned rezoning from a industrial into a residential area passes a City Council vote several months down the line, Flushing West will be one of the first neighborhoods to see Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plans, Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability, implemented.

But the most existential concern was whether the development could even happen in the first place.

Developers from F&T Group and Triple Star said their banks told them their projected profit margins were not large enough for them to approve loans.

MIH does not have any inbuilt subsidies for developers. In many neighborhoods, however, developers may be able to negotiate for additional height or other concessions to help them finance the affordable housing, if need be. But because of Flushing Wests’ proximity to LaGuardia airport, building up is not an option, and due to the high water table, neither is building down. CB 7 Chairman of the Land Use Committee Joseph Sweeney said that he was worried about how that would impact developer’s desire and ability to build.

“If it doesn’t work for the developers, it’s not going to work at all,” Sweeney said. “I’m afraid that you’re going to end up with a dust bowl.”

The 421-a tax breaks for affordable housing are also no longer in effect, something that could further hurt developers’ bottom line all around the city.

And none of this matters, so long as Claire Shulman's group got grant money to study the area. Ain't life grand?

Kim & Avella oppose Flushing West plan

On Friday, State Senator Tony Avella and Assembly Member Ron Kim stood together at Flushing West where the Department of City Planning (DCP) is proposing to substantially rezone for development. Together, the legislators opposed the Flushing West Development and announced plans to introduce legislation requiring municipalities, when considering a rezoning proposal based on proximity to transportation hubs, to study and assess whether the mass transit option could accommodate additional ridership.

Chief among their concerns was the clear overcrowding of Flushing. The over-populated area already struggles to accommodate the needs of Flushing residents, particularly the MTA 7 line, which has been known to suffer from reoccurring service disruptions and congested trains.

Avella and Kim questioned how an already over-capacity transportation system could accommodate the population surge that would come with further development and announced details of their soon to be addressed legislation. Under their bill, municipalities served by the MTA would be required to conduct a study on the environmental impacts of a comprehensive rezoning plan to determine whether mass transit could accommodate the ridership increase.

Another point of contention was DCP’s claim that the development proposes to increase the availability of affordable housing. Avella explained that the current method of assessing the Average Median Income (AMI) works against ensuring that low-income families will benefit from the development. By factoring in wealthier suburbs into the average, the AMI gives an inaccurate profile of a NYC family’s income.

Because the mandatory affordable housing that will come with the development is scaled to AMI, Avella argued that the families most in need will not benefit from the proposal. Avella currently has a bill in Albany to redefine a more appropriate AMI calculation based on zip codes (S.6628).

Finally, Avella and Kim also called on the City to address the rampant pollution of Flushing Creek before any plans to develop Flushing continue.

“DCP is putting the horse ahead of the cart with its push to develop Flushing West. If we ask residents of Flushing to accept even more crowding, they should, at the very least, expect an affordable housing solution; something that I strongly believe this proposal would not achieve. Not with the way the City currently calculates AMI. Also concerning is that Flushing is already indisputably over-populated. The streets are filled, the subways are over-capacity and yet DCP is advocating for greater density with few, if any, solutions for accommodating that population surge. Before the City haphazardly rezones Flushing West, or any other community for that matter, it should conduct a study to determine whether transportation systems could assimilate increased ridership. That is why I am proud to introduce legislation with Assembly Member Kim mandating the City to do exactly that, prior to any rezoning approval,” said State Senator Tony Avella.

“One size does not fit all when it comes zoning, especially congested neighborhoods like Flushing. It takes a more comprehensive approach, involving both local and state agencies putting together a plan that can truly serve a growing community. Senator Avella and I will be introducing new legislation that will require a full environmental and transportation assessment by the municipality responsible for any rezoning near transportation hubs. Simply stated, how can we even consider adding more people to the second most congested neighborhood in the city without any plans to improve the community’s infrastructure? The people of Flushing and Queens deserve better than this,” said Assembly Member Ron Kim.

Flushing West being studied

From City Limits:

Two years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio chose this unusual area named Flushing West as one of the first three neighborhoods (along with Brooklyn's East New York and the Jerome Avenue corridor in the Bronx) to undergo comprehensive studies for likely rezonings under his affordable housing plan.

Like other neighborhoods that are set to be rezoned, the proposal for Flushing has drawn some criticism—although there are also forces in Flushing that support a redrawing of the map for the area.

Before a rezoning could be contemplated, a study of the area was needed first, and the Department of City Planning’s Queens Borough Office began one last year. It focused on an areas below Northern Boulevard (on its north side) running west from Prince Street to Flushing Creek north of Roosevelt Avenue, and from College Point Boulevard west to the creek from Roosevelt down to 40th Road and the LIRR tracks. A sliver of undeveloped land on the west side of the creek, pinched between the water and the Van Wyck Expressway, is also included.

The DCP is not the first to study the area. The Flushing – Willets Point – Corona Local Development Corporation, led by former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, received a $1.5 million grant from the state’s Department of State to redevelop the waterfront. The area is a brownfield site, one of many contaminated areas the city noted for redevelopment in 2011.

Alexandra Rosa, project consultant for the LDC, says the mayor's announcement complimented LDC’s goals for the waterfront.

There are so many conflicts of interest here, and so little time to expose them all... Suffice it to say that all the usual suspects have their fingers in this pie.

Because what Flushing needs is hordes more people

From the Times Ledger:

At a public scoping meeting hosted by the Department of City Planning on the Flushing West rezoning proposal last week, City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) expressed concerns about many aspects of the project.

The Flushing West plan would create opportunities for mixed-income housing, community facilities, economic development and new public access areas along the Flushing Creek waterfront within a roughly 11-block area in the western portion of downtown Flushing, according to the City Planning document outlining the rezoning proposal.

The 47-acre area is bounded by Northern Boulevard, Prince Street, Roosevelt Avenue, College Point Boulevard, 40th Road and Flushing Creek, the document states.

Koo said the de Blasio’s administra­tion’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing tool could help create more than 500 additional affordable housing units, but it is unclear how the policy would benefit the variety of income levels in downtown Flushing.

Koo not sold on Flushing West project

From the Queens Tribune:

At a public scoping meeting on Tuesday, Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said the pollution of Flushing Creek was a huge concern for the Flushing West Rezoning Proposal.

The Department of City Planning is proposing zoning changes to a portion of Downtown Flushing along Flushing Creek, which they say will increase affordable housing and create a pedestrian-friendly waterfront.

But Koo said he feared no one would want to live in the area, or utilize the waterfront for recreational purposes, if the creek was not cleaned up.

“As we know, the creek is basically a cesspool that fills up whenever it rains. No one wants to go near it, because it stinks. I still haven’t heard a real solution for a sustainable creek. I expected Flushing West will change that, otherwise, who wants to live there?” he said.

Currently, the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant handles Flushing’s sewage. But the facility works over capacity, so when rainstorms flood the City’s sewer lines, the combined sewage and run-off from city streets is dumped straight into the Creek without being treated.

Koo said city planners had to address the root of the problem.

“The ongoing dredging of the Creek is great, but it’s only a temporary fix to an ongoing problem. The entire creek must be dredged, and more importantly, new capacity must be built,” he said. “We need to be sure that the department of environmental protection and the army core of engineers are involved in the planning and implementation of Flushing West.”

He also cautioned against overly sweet deals for developers, who would already be attracted to the area. “The challenge here is not getting the market to invest, but to make sure the investments meet the needs of the community,” he said.