By Kathianne Boniello
In a battle of Bayside vs. Bayside before Community Board 11 Monday night, residents went head-to-head with employees of a 215th Place business that wanted to extend its hours of operation and exercised enough clout to stop the move.
A heated public hearing at MS 158 in Bayside saw both residents living near Lund Fire Products at 40-33 215th Place and employees of the business urging the board to vote in their favor. CB 11 voted to deny the company’s variance – a request to extend the clerical hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The vote included 24 who backed denying the request, four who chose not to cast a ballot and one abstention.
The decision came after more than an hour of arguments from about 20 local residents and roughly 30 Lund Fire employees who attended the meeting, with each side drawing loud applause and cheers when public speakers supported their particular views. At one point CB 11 Chairman Bernard Haber threatened to stop the public hearing if the people in the audience did not remain calm.
Residents in the area have long accused Lund Fire Products of violating the terms of a 1985 variance that limited the company to operating between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and required it to keep delivery vehicles off local streets, among other restrictions.
Philip Augusta, an architect and urban planner representing Lund Fire Products at the CB 11 hearing, admitted before the board that the company had violated its variance, but he said the firm had cleaned up its act. Augusta also revealed plans to build a parking lot for employees that would double as a loading area for trucks, if the company could attain approval from CB 11 and the city Board of Standards and Appeals.
Community Board 11 covers the communities of Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Oakland Gardens, Auburndale and Hollis Hills.
Richard Alexander, owner of Lund Fire Products, would not comment on the accusations that his company did not follow its variance restrictions.
Alexander did say the company employed between 85 to 100 people, about 50 of whom visited the Bayside location on a daily basis. The other employees work in the field with customers, he said.
Several employees of Lund Fire Products spoke during the hearing, including some who asked for compromise and said they would lose their jobs if tension between the business and community continued. One employee said she was a single mother and extra working hours at Lund allowed her to keep her home, while another said her family would not be able to purchase a home in Bayside without her job at Lund Fire Products.
Jim Martin, a 10-year Lund employee, said “if some sort of compromise cannot be reached. Lund will be forced to move, and New Jersey may be a prime consideration. For many of us the commute would be impossible and most of us do not have sources to relocate.”
Martin was interrupted by loud applause from residents when he suggested that Lund might relocate out of Bayside.
A resident who said he owned homes and has lived on either side of the business on 215th Place and 216th Street said the company had been violating its 1985 variance from the beginning. After Augusta emphasized that the variance was only seeking to extend the hours of operation for the company’s clerical work, the man called him “a complete liar.”
Lisa George, who lives near Lund Fire Products and has long fought against the company for its alleged violations, emphasized that she had taken repeated photographic and video evidence of the company’s infringements.
“I believe this application should be and will be denied,” she said.
A man who said he had lived on 215th Place for two to three years said Lund Fire Products was not compatible with a residential area.
“This is not a business that enhances the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a commercial business with commercial customers and does not belong in the middle of a residential area.”
After the CB 11 meeting Augusta blasted the board’s decision and said the protests were the work of residents “looking for vengeance.”
“The neighbors saw the commercial uses when they bought their homes and now they want it to go away,” said Augusta, who said the property was a laundry before Lund took over and had been a commercial business since the 1930s.
Reach Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
