By Alex Christodoulides
Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates rallied Saturday morning in front of 172-14 Henley Road, where a watery foundation excavation marks the site of a 478-bed dorm that St. John's University is to lease for 10 years. Civic leaders and elected officials have blasted the school for the secrecy in which it drew up the agreement with developer H2H to build the dorm, only telling the community after signing the lease.The site is on a residential street where one side of the block is zoned for one-family houses but the other side allows taller, multi-unit structures up to three stories high. The dorm is considered a community facility and thus can be built larger than the prevailing context.Three elected officials – City Councilmen Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), and state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) – have all been seeking credit for fighting the dorm project. Avella, who chairs the City Council's Zoning and Franchises Committee and is an opponent of overdevelopment, is a 2009 mayoral candidate. Gennaro and Padavan have butted heads over the dorm – both oppose it but do so in different ways. Rumors have Gennaro, who is term-limited, running for Padavan's seat in the next election.Avella, who does not represent Jamaica Estates, told residents at the protest that they can halt the dorm project.”Why are we letting overdevelopment ruin our city? The only way we can stop this it to do exactly what you're doing, meeting to protest it,” he said.Avella has had a contentious relationship with Padavan and has considered challenging him for his Senate seat in the past. Their districts overlap in parts of northeast Queens.The dorm project is as of right, however, and has the Department of Buildings approval. H2H said two weeks ago that it is working with the city to address concerns about water and sewer infrastructure.Despite the rally's location within Gennaro's district he was not invited. Gennaro has a bill in the City Council that would remove college dormitories from the list of community facilities recognized in the city's zoning laws, which would not prevent construction of the St. John's dormitory but if it passed might nix similar projects in the future. Gennaro announced that he was giving $5,000 from his discretionary fund so that the Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates could hire a civil engineer to examine the site, but the pledge merited little reaction from the audience.”It's important to have this project reviewed by an engineer that is a completely independent third party,” he said. “We must make sure that every aspect of this development is given the greatest possible scrutiny. As your representative and ally in preserving the quality of life we enjoy here in Jamaica Estates, I'm putting my money where my mouth is with $5,000 of my discretionary funds.”Although local residents who spoke at the rally had high praise for Padavan, he did not attend the protest and did not send a staffer to speak on his behalf.Avella arrived late at the protest and explained, “I left Frank at the Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing.”Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at achristodoulides@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
