By Bob Harris
The mayor’s preliminary plans to change the zoning on property in Queens from R3 upwards are being prepared by his officials, but there is no input permitted from the civic leaders. There was one public hearing in Manhattan, where most people did not get a chance to speak. People were permitted to send in comments, but there have been no public hearings around the five boroughs where people can give their views.
Civic leaders want public hearings before final zoning text amendments are issued so their concerns can be addressed to change things which are wrong. It is better to get things right the first time than to try to change them later. The mayor wants more affordable housing, but he wants to permit basement apartments and the rezoning of areas so larger buildings with more people can be built. Plans call for the elimination of green areas around buildings, taller buildings and the elimination of parking in areas near public transportation where there are senior citizen residences.
The Queens Civic Congress, which represents civic associations in Queens, has written a stinging reply to the original proposals. Individual civic associations and civic leaders have written of their opposition in newspapers and in their civic newsletters.
The June 2015 newsletter of the West Cunningham Park Civic Association explained how these new zoning changes threaten our quality of life. It criticized the proposal to eliminate parking for senior citizens on the false theory that seniors don’t drive. Where would visitors park? If the city decreases green areas around buildings, then rainwater will have no way to get back underground and refill our aquifers. They don’t want Queens to become filled with cement and brick streets and yards. The civic association is concerned that the city might even try to change the Special Preservation District of the Fresh Meadows Development where a notorious developer wanted to build 22 two-family houses where the Klein farm is located. There is little parking in this area now.
Way back in the 2014 May/June newsletter, the WCPCA printed an article calling it crazy to make illegal basement apartments legal. In addition to the illegal things that might be done, there is the problem of adding more people to these residential neighborhoods.
The June 2015 newsletter of the Bayside Hills Civic Association, The Beacon, actually printed the May 14 Civic Scene column from this paper on this topic. That column had said that people buy homes in a specific area with specific zoning so there are lawns, gardens, flowers, bushes, trees and open spaces. People don’t want cement and bricks and tall buildings and excess people with garbage and recycling cans all over and cars parked on lawns.
The April 2015 newsletter of the Fresh Meadows Homeowners reprinted part of the letter the Queens Civic Congress wrote concerning their concerns about these zoning changes being prepared by the Department of City Planning. The article told of the years of work that civic leaders put into the rezoning of residential areas from R2 to R2A to keep the neighborhoods of Queens nice places to live in. Any changes now made in areas zoned from R3 upward could undo many of the good things accomplished. Often, R2A areas are adjacent to R3 or R4 or R5 or R6 areas and changes could result in non-conforming buildings.
Another problem, which was mentioned at the Feb. 17 meeting of the Queens Civic Congress, is that the Department of Buildings is ineffective now in maintaining the zoning rules. There is real concern that if the city loosens the zoning rules and permits builders to build what is illegal now they will violate the law completely.
Currently DOB can’t even get into buildings to check for illegal construction. Even if fined, some builders make a deal or just ignore the fine. It never even becomes a lien on the building.
