CB votes to allow purchase of property for group home despite complaints

Tempers flared at Community Board (CB) 10’s December meeting as a handful of Ozone Park residents complained about the potential opening of a group home for the mentally retarded.
In a unanimous vote with one abstention, the board voted to allow the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center to go ahead with the purchase of property on 120th Street in Ozone Park with the purpose of opening a group home there.
Francine Watnick, Developmental Disabilities Program Specialist at the Fineson Center, spoke at the meeting, held Thursday, December 6 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Ozone Park.
Watnick explained that the home would house mildly retarded adults, but residents of the block demanded that the group home be put in a less residential neighborhood.
Residents insisted their opposition had nothing to do with a bias toward the people who would be living in the home, but did say they worried about noise.
“The problem isn’t with the home itself,” said one man. “The problem is in putting it on a residential block and changing the makeup of the neighborhood.”
Attorney Albert Baldeo approached the issue from a legal standpoint, noting that the current owner of the property is also a member of CB 10. Citing official regulations, however, Board Chairperson Betty Braton said there was no conflict of interest.
“The owner of the property cannot take part in the vote, nor can he speak about the issue without announcing his personal association with the property,” said Braton. “However, the board can still discuss and vote on the issue.”
Braton said the only valid grounds for a dispute on the home would be over-saturation, but a small group home in the heavily-populated Ozone Park region would not even come close to garnering grounds for that argument, she explained.
Watnick said the Fineson Center will begin the purchasing process in the coming weeks.