November 3, 2011
Community Board 2 Monthly Meeting Minutes
Attendance
Terry Adams Ann Hart
Andrew Anzalone Reverend Joseph Jerome
Diane Ballek Tom Kalamaras
Sandra Bigitschke Marie Konecko
Kate Brennan Gertrude McDonald
Jean Carubia Dorothy Morehead
Bessie Cassaro Patrick Murray
Barbara Coleman Evan O’Neil
Joseph Conley, Chairman Elliot Park
Stephen Cooper Moitri Savard
Emilia Crotty David Shin
David DeCicco Karolina Tosi
Lisa Ann Deller Nick Troya
Don Dodelson Al Volpe
Mary English
Brian Flynn
Kenneth Greenberg
Richard Gundlach
Absentees
Bernard Callegari Norberto Saldana
Mohammed Choudhury Jewel
Luis Jimenez Lauren Springer
Ellen Kang Carol Terrano
Sheila Lewandowski Robert Wilkanowski
Dominic Lippolis
Guadalupe Marzana
Gregory Matos
Donald McCallian
Taina Hernandez McShane
Community Board 2 Staff
MaryAnn Gurrado
Public Officials
David Longshore, Assemblyman DenDekker’s Office
Matthew Lerch, Senator Gianaris Office
Joe Kenton, Council Member Van Bramer’s Office
Representative from Council Member Dromm’s Office
Guests
E. Petrik G. Del Prado
R. Tibaldi John MacCallum
Constance Brown F. Conefrey
Doug Barr William Garrett
Dorothy Endewelt W. Rak
Matt Quigley Cheryl Lamm
M. Collins Kyle Richard
L. Gerdts Yi-Wen Lin
H. McGowen Ashley Veroba
Denise Keehan Smith Seanan Reidy
R. Murray James Taylor
J. Walsh D. Kominsky
H. Papazian
Sam Goldman
Catherine Goudelis
Lisle Noll
G. Kaur
Thomas Cogan
Nelson San
Mr. Conley, Chairman Community Board 2 welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Pledge of Allegiance
Comments by Public Officials/Guest Speakers
Public Comment
BSA Calendar
BSA Application to seek determination from the BSA that the property owner has a vested right to continue with an R6 Development on a site that was recently rezoned R5D.
BSA Calendar 69-17 and
BSA Application to seek determination from the BSA that the property owner has a vested right to continue with an R6 Development on a site that was recently rezoned R5D.
BSA Calendar 52-11 29th Street aka
BSA Application for a special permit to reduce the accessory parking requirement for commercial uses in parking requirement category B1 pursuant to ZR73-44.
Mr. MacCallum, Studio V Architecture, representative for the architectural firm who are designing the project, gave a presentation concerning this application.
Vivian Krieger, Goldman Harris spoke on behalf of Borden LIC Properties, LLC. Ms. Krieger explained the site is a 28,750 square foot vacant lot in an M1 3 zoning district in LIC within the industrial business zone. The building is a proposed 16-story building and is “as of right” and they are coming to the Board for a special permit to do a reduction in parking. The parking will be in the cellar level and cannot go to a sub cellar level as there is a high water table which is 14 feet below grade.
Vivian Krieger said the plan is to provide enough parking for the proposed uses which is for a 143,734 square feet of floor area. 32,000 square feet will be for contractor storage and staging which will be used by the applicant, Navillus Contracting. 106,000 square feet will be used for office space. 6,000 will be used by a caterer which will be at the top and used for evenings and weekends and will not conflict with office and industrial uses during the day. Navillus Contracting is expecting some of their employees who will drive the rest will use mass transit and bicycles.
Navillus Contracting is the anchor tenant and will be occupying the first two floors of their building for warehouse space for their contracting services, four floors will be office space and will house their administrative office and the remaining space will be rented as office space and will be for general office use.
Ms. Krieger explained, Times Square Construction are doing the development and is a sister company to Navillus who has a 20 year history in LIC and employs over 400 people.
Ms. Deller asked how many people would be working in the building. The response was 40 people and there will be expected growth for the company. The occupancy per square foot would be 480 people. The City requires 274 spaces and they want to reduce to 150 spaces.
Public Comment
Vito Rak
Mr. Rak thanked Council Member Van Bramer and his staff and Community Board 2 for cleaning the graffiti in his community. Mr. Rak spoke of the mural on
Mr. Rak said Woodside on the Move did a mural on
Mr. Conley said the area can be treated with anti graffiti coating.
Cheryl Lamm
Ms. Lamm requested a speed hump on
Kyle Richard and Yi-Wen Lin
Mr. Richard, Partnership for Parks, is a non profit organization, working on a Green Western Queens Project, which will be planting hundreds of new street trees, catering to
Ms. Yi-Wen Lin said this is a three-year project and said they will be planting trees on
Ms. Lin said the Parks Department puts up trees all the time but there are long waiting lists and it takes up to two years after calling 311. A tree would be planted faster, if there is a commitment to care for the tree.
Ms. Lin said there are tree workshops to learn how to care for trees and this is a special opportunity for this neighborhood, due to the funding received from Con Ed as a result of the black out.
Mr. Conley said CB 2 has submitted a list to Parks of requests and asked if the same list should be submitted. Ms. Lin said there must be a commitment from people who will care for the trees.
Mr. Conley asked if Sunnyside BID would suffice for someone taking care of trees. The response was yes, and they can also participate in the tree care training.
Don Dodelson, CB 2 Board Member requested trees on
Ms. Lin said they put tree requests on a map to prioritize. She stated that for the Million Tree Project people are not required to care for the trees, for this particular project, they are looking for individuals who will commit to caring for the trees.
Ms. Savard, CB 2 Board Member asked about the
Mr. Conley said we have to put in a request with the DOT to do a road improvement on
Mr. Conley said the first priority for the trees would be for the Sunnyside and Woodside communities because this is where the impact of the blackout was and this is where the dollars should be committed to as these communities were severely impacted. Then we will look at Maspeth. CB 2 has requested a park on DOT property on
Mr. Conley said every year we submit an extensive list of tree requests and that we love them and want to see more of them planted in our community. This is a welcome program and the hitch is that we have to get people to commit and care for the trees.
Mr. Conley spoke of the tree at
Barbara Coleman spoke about maintenance of street trees and said there are dangerous situations as it takes the Parks Department a long time to maintain the trees.
Mr. Conley said tree pruning contracts have been cut back due to the budget. If people see a tree in distress, CB 2 contacts the Parks Department for inspection. We will report it if there is imminent danger, if it looks bad and, or, if it needs attention. Mr. Conley stated Parks has been very responsible.
Mr. Conley reminded everyone if they see a problem they should alert Community Board 2, call 311 or the Council Member’s Office.
Ashley Verobe – NYC Coalition for Smoke Free City
Ms. Verobe spoke about the legislation that made smoke free parks, beaches and plazas. This year, they are trying to keep momentum going and prevent new smokers from starting and are trying to help those to quit smoking and to prevent youth from not smoking. They are looking at the number of tobacco retailers and their proximity to schools. There are 11,500 tobacco retailers, 75% are located within 1000 feet of schools. They are also looking at tobacco advertising, which increases youth to start smoking by 50%.
Ms. Verobe said they are seeking support for legislation/bills introduced in the Council and are requesting community board support.
Mr. Conley said some of the things we are requesting their support for should be the penalty for selling no tax cigarettes. People selling drugs can make more money and get less of a fine for selling illegal cigarettes. The number of people walking around with nap sacks on their backs selling “loosies”. Ms. Verobe said they are doing research to find out how many people are buying in this format.
Mr. Conley said we will support their legislation and said there are a number of stores who have ads in their windows.
Seanan Reidy
Ms. Reidy is a resident of Woodside and parent of children attending St. Sebastian’s school on
She has observed enforcement agents ticketing parents with $100 fines when they drop off their children because they have to double park. She is a requesting a safe stop zone so parents can get kids into school safely for a few moments. She suggested closing that part of
Mr. Conley said CB 2 will contact the DOT to look at this matter and that we will do an on site visit of the area.
Ms. Reidy said the Stop sign is being requested on
James Taylor
Mr. Taylor of the Services Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, which represents 130,000 members, announced that his
Jerry Walsh
Mr. Walsh thanked Joseph Conley for taking a proactive walk through Dutch Kills in the
Mr. Walsh thanked CB 2 for voting against the reduction in the number of parking spaces at the
Both Community Boards have to look at this matter as there is no parking in the area. If a developer decides to build a home, they will go before the BSA and it will be reduced because the BSA does not live in LIC.
Mr. Walsh suggested the Community Boards look at residential parking permits and stated parking is an issue in LIC.
Mr. Walsh invited everyone to attend the NYC Marathon and that the Dutch Kill Civic Association would be on hand to distribute bottled water by 170 volunteers.
Mr. Conley spoke about changing parking at
Mr. Conley said residential permits is not a new idea and is something that was floated around a couple of years ago and was soundly voiced down in communities because people realized they were paying an extra tax to park on the city street. There would be competition for parking permits because you are limited to spots you have on the streets. With new residential development there was a very high number of parking spaces that were required, which are not being used because people do not want to pay for them.
Mr. Conley said people in
Mr. Walsh announced the Council member will do a walk through this month.
Dorothy Kominsky
Comments were inaudible.
Mr. Conley welcomed and introduced the following representatives:
- David Longshore, Michael DenDekker’s office
- Matthew Lerch, Senator Gianaris office
- Joe Kenton, Council member Van Bramer - Mr. Conley thanked Joe Kenton for his efforts.
- Representative from Danny Drumm’s Office
Attendance
A motion was made and seconded for the Approval of last month’s minutes.
Chairman’s Report
Mr. Conley said we have been pushing forth on a Beautification Project along
Victorious
Mr. Conley reported this statue was knocked down and repaired and restored.
Remediation work on Hunters Point
Mr. Conley spoke about the School Construction Authority and that they are doing remediation work at the site on Hunters Point at Queens West. CB 2 was notified about the remediation CB 2 has requested they put a tent up.
Emerging Business Leaders
Mr. Conley said there was an event for Emerging Business Leaders Hosted by Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan and Council Member Van Braymer about Emerging Business Leaders.
Taste of Sunnyside
Mr. Conley spoke of the Taste of Sunnyside event which had a sell out night and he thanked all the restaurants that participated.
Mr. Conley, said he met with the Skillman Avenue Merchants which is a group trying to do something on Skillman Avenue, working on plans for next year such as a cultural festival on Skillman Avenue and they are looking for local artists to participate.
New Community Affairs Officer, 108th Police Precinct
Mr. Conley announced that Officer Diaz is the new Community Affairs Officer at the 108th Precinct. Lt. Watcher was promoted to Captain and did a great job for the community. We would like to see him back in the Precinct and wish him well.
Dancing with the Stars Event
November 5, 2011 at St. Teresa’s announced Council Member Van Bramer would be dancing too.
Woodside on the Move
Woodside on the Move has a new Executive Director, Adrian Bordoni.
YMCA
Mr. Conley said Community Board 2 had a meeting with new Executive Director of the YMCA and said that we need better communication with the community and asked them to open up more events to the community.
HPD Seal Ups
Mr. Conley reported that
Annual
Mr. Conley announced the annual holiday toy drive is coming up and that we will also be collecting canned goods for families for Thanksgiving Holiday.
Rita Manton
Mr. Conley announced Rita Manton has resigned from the Board and Mr. Conley thanked her for all her hard work and for all of her contributions work with Sunnyside Community Services.
Elliot Park
Mr. Conley welcomed Elliot Park as a new Board Member who comes from the LIC area.
Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting
Mr. Conley reported on the numerous film and TV crews coming into the community. CB 2 is keeping a log to track each of each of them. The Mayor has said this is a great opportunity for NYC but there is a negative impact on the community, as we are losing parking, trucks are idling, and nothing comes back to the community. These production crews bring in their own food, and their own caterers and our community is paying a big price for it. CB 2 has been speaking with the Mayor’s Office and will be having a follow up conversations.
Mr. Conley stated there are a number of streets where we have said “no more” and that these streets are added to a hot list. There is a block in the area that was on a hot list and since there were no complaints, the block was removed from the list.
Mr. Conley said the production companies are putting up notifications way in advance and the notification period goes up a couple of days in advance. They are not supposed to be taking away parking. CB 2 had a walk through in August and there were 5 different film crews in one day on
He stated we are hoping to develop a better program, with notification and to arrange for something that is a give back to the community. He is seeking to tighten up the notification period and monitor the number of productions.
Hart Playground
Mr. Conley reported CB 2 is still working through the issue of Hart Playground. We receive many complaints on regular basis about this location and
Mr. Conley reported on the Public Meeting held at St. Mary’s regarding
Mr. Conley said we are trying to create a traffic median so there could be plantings and there will be another presentation by DOT in the future.
Mr. Conley said the number of liquor licenses that continue to come up in Hunters Point is a concern, it is an emerging community and it is in our mind each time we see a liquor license in this area.
Request for Community Bulletin Boards
Ms. Morehead asked for community bulletin boards at the plazas. Mr. Conley said Council Member Van Braymer raised concerns about newsstands.
Election of Officers
Ms. Deller said November is the month for the election of officers for CB 2 and at the October meeting a request was made for nominations from the floor. Ms. Deller asked if there were any nominations. The proposal at the October meeting was to nominate the existing slate of officers:
Joe Conley, Chair
Stephen Cooper, Fist Vice Chair
Patrick O’Brien, Second Vice Chair
Diane Ballek, Treasurer
Lisa Deller, Secretary
A motion was made and seconded to elect the existing slate of officers.
The vote was all in favor of electing the slate, with no one opposed and no abstentions.
Penny Lee, City Planning
Ms. Lee reported that on
Ms. Lee said they are still working with the Mayor’s Office on a date for the ribbon cutting ceremony for
Ms. Lee said there will be a public hearing next month on the (E) Designation Text. This was discussed at the Land Use Committee Meeting on the zoning text amendment and has to do with way the City regulates properties that are being rezoned or have a land use action and also have the potential for soil contamination or other hazardous materials on the site. This will come up before the Land Use Committee this month and a vote next month and public hearing.
Ms. Lee said applications for site selections for city facilities and will not come for public hearing until early next year.
City Services Public Safety Committee
Mr. O’Brien, Chair, City Services Public Safety Committee was not present at this meeting.
Environment Committee
Ms. Morehead reported there was a meeting and asked if the Committee could attend a meeting concerning an
EPA will work with CAG to explain the intricacies of the tests that are starting now and have started doing sediment tests and that they have not reached any bedrock. They are doing tests all along the Creek and will take approximately 10 years for the total assessment and analysis of the sediment and assessment of the cause of the sediments. This will be a long process but we are on our way.
Ms. Morehead announced there will be no meeting for Environment for November as it falls on Thanksgiving.
Land Use Committee
BSA -
Ms. Deller reported there was rezoning in Woodside and the streets were down zoned from R6 to R5B and the developer of the site are working with legal counsel, Jordan Most of Sheldon Lobel’s office to get a BSA permit to allow them to go forward with the development at the higher use which was proposed under the R6 zoning.
69-17 and
Ms. Deller said when a developer owns a site that is down zoned they have to reach the minimum standard which would vest it as under construction by the time the zoning is approved. The zoning was approved but the project was not far enough under construction in order for the project to be vested to be approved under the rezoning.
The developer had to go to the BSA to get a special permit in order to allow them to develop at a much higher number of units. They are requesting a BSA application for both sites.
Ms. Deller said on one of the sites the developer purchased the site in April before the rezoning and started to dig the foundation very shortly before the rezoning took place. In both cases the Land Use Committee voted to oppose the BSA application to allow the developer to develop it at the higher density rather than the down zoned level of the R5D.
A motion was made and seconded to oppose both applications allowing the developer to develop it at a higher use that they are requesting.
BSA -
A motion was made and seconded to oppose the BSA application of the developer to continue with the R6 development which was originally zoned R5D
Mr. Conley explained that the rationale was that we just went through a recent rezoning to have the neighborhood conform to the appropriate height and density and R6 is out of character with the neighborhood.
The motion passed unanimously by a show of hands with all those present with the Chairman of Community Board 2 present and not voting.
BSA 69-17 38th and
A motion was made and seconded to oppose the BSA application of the developer to continue with the R6 development which originally zoned R5D
The motion passed unanimously by a show of hands with all those present with the Chairman of Community Board 2 present and not voting.
BSA
Ms. Deller reported that the applicant said this is an “as of right” site and “as of right” building. They are looking to reduce the number of parking spaces that are required for this building.
Mr. Conley said that this building is a manufacturing zone which requires more parking than a commercial zone.
Ms. Deller said the original site requires 274 spaces and they want to reduce it to 150 spaces and that it is currently in an underutilized area. Parking will be primarily used for Navillus Construction employees, storage downstairs and will be contained. Ms. Deller said they are proposing to lease other space in the building.
The Land Use Committee voted unanimously to approve the reduction in the parking spaces.
In response to a question, Ms. Lee said the parking requirement is usually similar to what the manufacturing requirement is which 1 for 300 is and the proposed is 1 for 600 square feet.
Ms. Deller said as the neighborhood improves it could be more intensely used.
Mr. Conley estimated there will be 480 people maximum, there will be parking for 150, not everyone will be driving, people will use mass transit, railroad, etc. There is no parking on the streets by and large now because of the industrial neighborhood that is there.
Ms. Deller said the water table is also problematic if they had to dig more deeply and that there will be 30 people per floor, approximately 15 floors.
Ms. Deller said there is no public parking provision here as at the
Mr. Conley said they are bound by a certificate of occupancy and the max is 480 people working there.
Mr. Deller said the Land Use Committee made a recommendation which was to approve the reduction in parking spaces given the rationale which this developer had. They are providing for their own employees.
A motion was made and seconded to approve the reduction. The vote was 25 In favor; 2 opposed; 3 abstentions with the Chairman of Community Board 2 present and not voting.
Dual Street Renaming Requirements
Ms. Deller reported that any request for a dual street renaming within Community Board 2 shall meet the following guidelines in order to be considered and voted upon by the Board.
PART I: PROCESS FOR SUBMISSION
- The request must be submitted in writing with a detailed statement explaining how an individual or organization meets each of the criteria set forth in these guidelines.
- The request must be supported by petitions, letters of support, and other statements of endorsement.
PART II: DOCUMENTS FOR CB 2 TO REVIEW:
- If an individual is to be honored, that person must:
- Be a public or elected official or community activist, active in a civic, political, community, or other recognized organizations within CB2;
- Have had a long-term residence within CB2, with a beneficial impact within CB 2:or
- Have been born in CB2, and had a direct long-term, and substantial, involvement and beneficial impact with CB2.
- If the party to be honored is an organization, the organization must:
- Be a substantial historical or other significance within CB2, or have had a long-term direct, substantial, and beneficial impact within CB2.
- Be a substantial historical or other significance within CB2, or have had a long-term direct, substantial, and beneficial impact within CB2.
The foregoing are not the only factors that may be considered by CB2, but only set forth the minimum criteria required for any such consideration, and all other relevant and appropriate factors may be considered as CB2 in its sole discretion may determine.
Mr. Cooper made a motion that we adopt this resolution with the insertion of the word “Or” after which was left out by accident in the first paragraph of Part II.
Mr. Volpe suggested the word leadership be inserted into the guidelines. The request was denied because it does not propose to name a tenants coalition leader of
A motion was made to approve the Street Renaming Guidelines with the insertion of the word “Or”
All were in favor by a show of hands by all those present with the Chairman of Community Board 2 present and not voting
Transportation Committee
Mr. Conley said there have been conversations with Transportation Alternatives and are waiting for them to come back with a few plans.
Mr. Conley has spoken with the DOT about a long list of items in our community.
Mr. Conley reported that for street reconstruction the DOT must notify the Community Board. People were waking up to find out cars were being towed and relocated throughout Sunnyside and on
A board member reported lights are out at the pedestrian bike path at the
Mr. Conley reminded everyone to that Election Day was Tuesday and all should go out to vote. He reminded everyone to remember to honor our Veterans on Veterans Day and there would be ceremonies.
Mr. Conley wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and said the next meeting is on December 1, 2011.
Mr. Volpe spoke about the Bike Share Program which was introduced in the City. The City believes they will make money on Bike Shares. People will pay a fee so they can rent a bike. 600 locations throughout the city will lose parking spaces for the bike share locations. Locations for bike share apparatus will be approved by the Community Board.
Mr. Conley said Bike Share is about Bike Rentals and is something we hope will be in Hunters Point soon and that it will spread throughout the rest of the community, especially under the number 7 train, 46, 40th and 33rd and it would be a great opportunity for it. He said we have also asked for more bicycle racks at these locations. They will be licensed by the City of
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by:
MaryAnn Gurrado
