Home Jamaica Bay at sunset
Home What's New Breeze Calendar About Us NYPD Links Contact Us

Copyright Bayswater Civic Association 2015, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24

    Community Board 14 Ad Hoc Committee on Downtown Far Rockaway

      Meeting to review EDC plans to:

      - sell city parking lot

      - build up to 3,300 apartments with less than 1 parking space/apartment

      - not provide parking spaces for city vehicles and employees

      - not provide adequate shopper parking

    

      Issues -

        building height

        number of units -

          1,300 in the urban renewal area

          3,300 in the rezoned area

>       count of available parking spaces? today

        need wider sidewalks

        require a zoned elementary school, with pre-K

          will the school have a playground?

        parks -

          no discussion on recapturing park between the library and             firehouse stolen by FDNY

          there should be a park and playground, with rest rooms

        traffic -

          widen streets

          adjust traffic signal timing

          bus staging

>       the committee believes that Rita Stark’s estate, or a new owner, can            build up to the requested density as of right -

          that is NOT TRUE as area currently is not zoned for ANY             residential

        parking -

          request 75%, expecting it to be cut down

>         committee is ignoring how many cars will thus be added to the streets, further reducing available shopper parking

        income levels (family of 3) -

          40% of apartments market rate ($85,000+)

          60% of apartments "affordable" -

            20% of the affordable - 30% of AMI ($24,480)

            80% of the affordable - 60% of AMI ($48,960)

        8 stories, maximum (“in context with the neighborhood” where the tallest buildings are 4 stories, except for the RDRC building which is 6 stories)!

        there should be a defined and marked evacuation route

>         that does not flood

        at least 40% of the apartments should be owner occupied

>       didn't address proposal to permit construction in the bed of mapped streets

        commercial uses to be limited to the first floor -

>         this is in the belief that permitting second floor offices would result in higher buildings (since additional floors would be needed to pay for costs  not understanding that commercial rents typically exceed residential rents

        zoning outside of the urban renewal area should be limited to the existing context (6 stories, max)


Note: A “>” at the beginning of the line indicates webmaster comments.  Otherwise, these are the conclusions of the Community Board 14 Ad Hoc Downtown Far Rockaway Committee.