Plans for a behemoth mall at Willets Point received a key nod from Community Board (CB) 7 after the city and the facility’s developer laid out a list of new commitments.
CB 7 granted a special permit to Sterling Equities and Related with a 22-18 advisory vote. The joint venture wants to move Citi Field parking to Willets Point in order to construct a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center at Willets West.
The board’s land use committee, including CB 7 Chair Gene Kelty, voted down the permit in a meeting last week.
But a pair of letters detailing a list of new promises by the developer and city swayed them at the last minute.
“I changed my vote tonight because I had papers in front of me that I felt comfortable with,” Kelty said.
“The other time, there was nothing. I was looking at a blank slate in front of me.”
In April, the committee told developers they needed more information about parking, traffic flow and transplanting the plethora of small business owners within the Iron Triangle.
The Queens Development Group and Deputy Mayor Robert Steel returned with pages of new promises, including a pledge to provide ongoing environmental remediation of all 23 acres of Willets Point land the city is acquiring from the current occupants.
The pair of letters also detailed commitments to conduct and fund traffic mitigation measures, build a 1,000-seat K-8 public school and give $1.87 million to the Willets Point Infrastructure and Traffic Mitigation Fund.
Developers also agreed to put $100,000 into the fund for every quarterly meeting with CB 7 that they miss.
“There was just a lot more that was brought into language in both these letters,” said Chuck Apelian, CB 7’s first vice chair and head of the land use committee. “That’s why I’m supporting this, and I think we’ve come a long way.”
The recommendation now goes to Borough President Helen Marshall, the Department of City Planning and then the City Council.
Ethan Goodman, a lawyer representing the developer, said there would not be another chance to clean up the long-neglected property.
“A vote against this plan is a vote against cleaning Willets Point,” he said. “We’re talking about 100 years of contamination. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Queens Development Group said in a statement the approval brings them “one step closer” to transforming the area into “a vibrant new neighborhood.”
However, dozens of local residents, including current Willets Point landowners, pleaded with the board to vote against the permit.
“We have jobs over there,” said Marco Neira, president of the Willets Point Defense Committee. “I don’t know why you’d want to approve the project and kill all those businesses. We are workers over there.”
Joseph Ardizzone, the only person who lives in Willets Point, said democracy died with the board’s green light.
“Anyone that votes yes to taking my property denies me the right to be an American citizen,” Ardizzone said. “God bless America? I don’t think so anymore.”
Residents protested the delay of affordable housing during Community Board 7’s vote on Monday. (THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan)
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