By Bob Harris
Civic leaders representing homeowners and tenants in residential communities recently testified against a proposal that would limit large community facilities in one- and two-family residential areas. For years homeowners have felt the inconvenience caused by houses of worship, medical facilities and schools that move into quiet residential neighborhoods and expand so large that the quality of life in the neighborhood is destroyed.
Residential houses of uniform size are dwarfed by these expanded facilities, which bring an abundance of cars that crowd streets, block driveways, double park, make noise, leave trash and pollute the air with auto or bus fumes from idling vehicles. Trash cans and bags of stinking garbage fill the streets, and people talking, shouting and honking horns bother others in their homes at all hours of the day.
For years civic associations, block associations and tenant groups have complained about these problems caused by large community facilities. Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), a former civic association leader, has responded to these complaints by introducing legislation with the support of Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills).
The City Council has supported this legislation and the Department of City Planning has drawn up proposals. Civic leaders testified at the scoping hearing in Manhattan. Representatives of religious institutions spoke against the proposal, yet civic leaders also spoke against the proposed changes.
Sean Walsh, president of the Queens Civic Congress, applauded the initiative but complained that it did not address the actual problem of large community facilities. He acknowledged that community facilities provide essential services but criticized the “as of right” permit, saying, “Nowhere else in New York state or for that matter in most of this country does a community facility have the right to use and bulk exemptions to site itself in a residential zone.”
Queens homeowners find that houses of worship have kitchens so that members can hold parties for all occasions, which have nothing to do with the use of the building for religious services. These occasions cause auto congestion, noise and mounds of garbage.
Members of the Queens Civic Congress, an umbrella organization of more than 100 civic associations in Queens, are unhappy that the Department of City Planning’s community facilities proposal is not dealing with the problem of bulk. It allows exemptions for small religious facilities, 142 seats and fewer, and nothing for parking for these facilities.
Walsh said, “The current version is patchwork, the product of intense negotiations. … We don’t want it.” Civic Congress Vice President Patricia Dolan submitted a written statement outlining the organization’s criticism of the proposal. Douglaston Civic Association President Elliott Socci said, “We are looking for relief for residential areas.”
Speaking on behalf of a number of Jewish groups was Manny Behar, executive director of the Queens Jewish Community Council. He expressed concern over the parking requirements for houses of worship.
“These parking requirements of one space for every 10 occupants mean that a house of worship has to purchase an additional lot … prohibitively increasing the cost of building a new house of worship,” Behar said. He added that worshipers do not even drive on holy days so they would be spending money for parking that will not be used on those days.
This community facility issue also troubles residents of Manhattan, where huge hospitals, schools and medical facilities tower over town houses and small apartment houses. Even small community facilities have kitchens or nursery schools, bringing an excess of garbage and traffic.
These new proposals will be going to the Borough Boards then to each community board in each borough. Eventually Community Board 8 in Fresh Meadows, CB 11 in Bayside, CB 13 in Queens Village and CB 6 in Forest Hills will discuss the issue and vote their recommendations. There should be heated discussion on both sides.
Good news of the week
Avella, a resident of College Point, again has donated 5 percent of his salary, $4,500, to the community. He was so against the 4 percent raise the Council voted for itself in a time of rising real estate taxes, increased transit fare and a poor job market that he has been donating the raise to organizations such as the Queens Library and various senior centers as well as other groups in his community.
Bad news of the week
Economist Robert Samuelson, whose college-level economics book most of us have used, said the Congressional Budget Office recently issued a report stating the federal budget is drifting into huge deficits. Our future looks bad with the retirement of 77 million baby boomers and their claims on federal entitlement programs.
Our federal spending keeps rising for all types of spending. What will we do? Cut spending? Raise taxes? Declare our social entitlement programs too expensive and end or reduce them? Default on our debt? What if we have a real national emergency? It is too bad no politicians are talking about these economic problems.
