By Rich Bockmann
The City Council’s second most-powerful lawmaker would like to loosen City Hall’s grip over the panel that considers construction and renovation proposals that fall outside zoning regulations.
Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) is looking to dilute the mayor’s influence at the city Board of Standards and Appeals by tripling the number of commissioners and doling out appointments to elected officials in the five boroughs.
The councilman has proposed a trio of bills aimed at democratizing the BSA, which considers applications for special permits and waivers of certain zoning requirements. The board is currently made up of five mayoral appointees.
Van Bramer would have that number expanded to 16 members, giving five appointments to the Council and each of the borough presidents and one pick to the city public advocate’s office.
The western Queens lawmaker’s proposals would also give the Council confirmation authority over the mayor’s picks and require the board to codify rules for considering community input.
Van Bramer said he put the reform package together with the hope of giving local residents more of a say when it comes to out-of-character development.
“In the past the Board of Standards and Appeals has granted numerous variances against the wishes of the community, civic associations and community boards. This package of legislation not only makes the Board of Standards and Appeals variance appeal process more transparent but it will also help maintain the fabric of our communities,” he wrote in an e-mail.
When it comes to variances, the board makes its decisions based on five criteria laid out in the city’s zoning resolution.
The BSA has a reputation for being developer-friendly, but Community Board 7 Chairman Gene Kelty said, if anything, it is the zoning resolution that favors development.
“The problem with the B. S. and A. is that when an application meets the criteria, it approves it. People don’t like that,” he said. “At the community-board level it’s hard to please everybody.”
Kelty said he runs into more problems with applications for special permits — such as allowing a car repair shop to operate in a commercial zone — where the zoning resolution is less clear on its criteria.
Van Bramer’s proposal would be somewhat like a return to the days of the city Board of Estimate, when the Council and borough presidents voted on land-use applications. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the board unconstitutional in 1989, the borough president’s office has been relegated to an advisory role on land-use issues.
Under the councilman’s proposal, each application would be heard by 12 of the BSA’s members — commissioners appointed by the four other borough presidents would sit out votes not in their area — and would require a majority to get things passed.
Kelty said things can get chaotic at community board meetings with everyone putting in their two cents, and it would be hard to imagine a dozen people weighing in.
“[That] seems like a lot of people to me,” he said.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
