By Jennifer Warren
Members of Forest Hills and Rego Park’s Community Board 6 voted unanimously to approve the extension of Arthur Katzman Park on 108th Street last week in an attempt to thwart the current landowner’s plans to develop on the site.
“When we heard that a building could be built here, needless to say we were horrified,” said Trudy Emanuel, a resident of Lexington House, a co-op building that abuts the opposite side of the vacant property.
Ellen Reiser of 108th Street in Forest Hills told the board that the park with its canopy of trees was a place for both young and old to enjoy the outdoors.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much children enjoy having water gun fights and the elderly enjoy playing cards there,” she said.
Franklin Baharestani, who purchased the 20-by-200-foot lot between 68th Road and 68th Avenue two years ago, said he plans to erect two four-story apartment buildings on the site.
The 29-to-0 vote — with one abstention because of conflict of interest — was cast March 28 at a board meeting brimming with more than 50 members from the community as well as Councilwoman woman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) and representatives for state Assemblyman Michael Cohen (D-Forest Hills) and state Sen. Dan Hevesi (D-Forest Hills).
Baharestani maintained that the residents’ action to commandeer the lot for park space had less to do with the preservation of the park and more to do with their own vista of the park.
“This is mostly about the view of residents of the co-op,” Baharestani said.
In order for the City and the Parks Department to acquire the strip of land, they would have to resort to legal action against Baharestani, the land owner said, because he has the legal right to develop the property.
“I guarantee you it will cost taxpayers millions to achieve this goal,” he said.
As an alternative to development, Baharestani offered to sell the land to the city, Koslowitz said, but that offer required the city to pay $2.5 million for the land. Since he had purchased the property for $450,000 only two years earlier Koslowitz refused the offer.
“Obviously, I asked him to please leave my office,” the council woman said.
In an effort to garner official support Emanuel circulated a petition in which she collected more than 300 signatures from area residents to block development and extend the Katzman Park into the 20 by 200 foot lot.
But Baharestani and his attorney, who both spoke at the meeting, said the property is privately owned and invoked the “as of right” law, which enables them to develop land under current zoning laws.
Barbara McGregor, a board member who asked to be allowed to abstain from the vote, was not permitted to do so. Instead, she temporarily removed herself from the room and was counted as “not present.”
McGregor said she did not want to see the building erected or the park compromised, but she acknowledged that the land owner had his legal rights.
Baharestani’s attorney argued that the land had originally belonged to the city until it was sold for private use in the mid-20th century.
“What are the issues surrounding expropriating a private property after it’s been allowed to serve its public interest for 60 or 70 years?” McGregor asked following the meeting. “It’s a complicated issue.”
Reach reporter Jennifer Warren by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 155.
