By Jeremy Walsh
The Department of Transportation issued a Notice of Violation Jan. 14 to the property owner, Metropolitan Management LLC, ordering the company to remove the unauthorized encroachment within 30 days. If the fence is not moved, the city may move and replace the fence at the owner's expense.”We have tried for years to have this property maintained safely,” Conley said. “The community has endured this barricade covered with graffiti and an empty lot that is a blight on the community. We have reported this site for dangerous conditions many times.”The problems with the site began on May 31, 2001, when a four-alarm fire swept through the block, destroying the Dae Dong Korean restaurant, J. J. Gilligan's sports bar and a corner fruit market.A T-Mobile cellular phone store has since opened at 46-01 Queens Blvd., while a Thai restaurant recently applied for a liquor license at 46-17 Queens Blvd.The property at 46-11 Queens Blvd. has remained vacant, however, with a construction fence that blocks a portion of the heavily traveled sidewalk.DOB records show the property owner filed plans for a four-story, 17,900-square-foot commercial building in 2004, but the plan was rejected.A permit for the fence, applied for on June 7, 2001, was approved on April 16, 2007.Conley said the fence is next to a bus stop. The sidewalk, he said, narrows to a point where people have to walk single file around the bus stop.”Because this fence is allowed by law to encroach onto the sidewalk as a temporary repair, it should not be allowed to stand indefinitely,” he said.Conley said he was pleased that the city cited the property owner, noting he hoped the site would be rebuilt soon.”Seven years is long enough,” he said. Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
