By Bob Harris
On Feb. 28, the Queens Civic Congress invited its member civic associations to a discussion about community facilities, which are found in all communities but are saturating some more than others.
Brooklyn Architect Neil Barry Cohen, executive vice president of the Concerned Residents of Bay Ridge, explained that community facilities were loosely defined first in 1916, then in 1961, but are now saturating and destroying neighborhoods so that civics are fighting to have them limited. These facilities are colleges, schools, dormitories, libraries, museums, nonprofit institutions, houses of worship, clinics, health centers, group homes and doctor's offices.
Since they are supposed to benefit the residents of a community, they were given a floor area bonus and liberal siting requirements to make them less expensive to operate and easy to locate near their clients and users.
However, community facilities can also intrude into our lives and disrupt our quality of life. Common complaints include excessive size, inadequate parking, traffic congestion, non-contextual construction, and many nonresidents and workers competing for street parking, buses, trains and roadways, more trash and often, no real estate taxes.
Cohen wrote that the problem is that community facilities have changed dramatically since 1961. That means, therefore, that the written zoning that permits these facilities to get classified into a “use group” with more floor area far more bulk, more clients, more worshipers, more patrons and more facility users, is not what was envisioned by those who wrote the law.
John Liu, president of the North Civic Association, who is a vice president of the Queens Civic Congress and who conducted the forum, aided by Tyler Cassell from the same civic, showed slides of the community to demonstrate how many facilities were located on certain blocks. It was revealed that some churches are built and then buy adjacent houses for church use. One block was shown to have 13 different types of houses of worship and doctor's offices. The civic is fighting the Salvation Army, which suddenly bought three adjacent houses and wants to tear them down to build a community center. They have seen other large centers that were built in other areas and are nervous.
The problem with community facilities is that no notification or hearing is often required because they are there “as of right.” The Queens Civic Congress is supporting the bill of Assemblyman Scott Stringer, which would at least require community review of state or state-funded facilities. It has passed the Assembly but not the state Senate. We must lobby if we want this oversight passed, even though it isn't a lot.
Harold Rochelle, from the Rockaway Action Committee, told of their fight against the large number of nursing homes, SRO's (single room occupany) absentee landlords and churches in store fronts. He told of residents of these nursing homes not taking their medication and wandering around the community. They have fought the landlords and forced some to close their facilities, many which had multiple zoning and health violations. The many large houses in Rockaway made these feasible.
These Rockaway civic activists have had to fight for years to keep the speculators and absentee landlords from ruining their community.
They have spoken at previous meetings and one must admire their perseverance and fortitude. Of course, they are fighting for the quality of life in their community.
Their Assemblywoman, Audrey Pheffer, has sponsored a bill we call the Pheffer Bill. It would convert the fines that these speculators receive on their property, due to violations of the housing laws, into tax liens, thereby putting teeth into the enforcement of illegal activities. We hope to finally get this bill passed by the Senate to protect our quality of life.
(TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)
