By Sarina Trangle
Borough President Melinda Katz gave her blessing to rezoning a corner of Ridgewood to make way for 96 residential units — with two suggested caveats.
Katz wrote in her recommendation for the Woodward Avenue Rezoning that an unspecified number of apartments built should be set aside for those who make 60 percent of the area’s median income.
She also suggested that the city Planning Commission and City Council explore using a different commercial overlay in the roughly two-by-one block strip bounded by Starr Street and Flushing, Woodward and Onderdonk avenues to permit a greater variety of businesses.
“The overall objectives of the proposed rezoning to rationalize several existing legal, non-conforming homes … and to allow redevelopment of two sizable underutilized lots next to the homes would be an improvement,” Katz wrote in her Uniform Land Use Review Procedure recommendation. “However, even at rent-stabilized rates some of this housing will be still out of reach for current local residents of that part of Ridgewood.”
Inquires about Katz’s suggestions were not returned by 176 Woodward Owner LLC, which submitted the rezoning application. If approved, the company plans to build an 88-unit residence atop medical, commercial and community facility space at 176 Woodward Ave. and an eight-home building on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Starr Street.
City records show 176 Woodward Owner LLC has spent $37,500 lobbying unnamed Council members and Katz.
Ridgewood residents debated whether the project would usher in wealthier inhabitants and price out current neighbors or improve an area largely used for storage at a March Community Board 5 meeting.
At the time, an attorney for the applicant did not describe the apartments as rent-stabilized, but estimated rents would range from $1,000 to $1,200 for studios to $1,800 for two-bedroom apartments.
CB 5 voted in favor of the application 28-11.
The proposal will now go before the city Planning Commission and then the Council, which typically defers to the lawmaker representing the area in question — in this case, Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn).
Reynoso has said he opposed the rezoning because it may hinder the Maspeth Industrial Business Zone it borders and endanger a vulnerable affordable housing climate.
Indeed, last month the city Board of Standards and Appeals received an application requesting a variance for a three-story penthouse at 15-04 through 15-06 Decatur St., which falls within the newly established Ridgewood IBZ.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisioned IBZs as a mechanism for protecting manufacturing jobs by pledging not to alter zoning and using tax incentives to lure in new businesses.
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
