Agency Rejects Permits For Undisclosed Reasons
Plans for the construction of the proposed Glendale homeless shelter hit a snag on Monday, July 28, when the Department of Buildings (DOB) denied developers their requested construction permits.
The DOB rejected plans for converting a long-unused warehouse located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. into a four-story dormitory with more than 100 units and constructing an extension with additional units. Documents listed on the DOB’s online database, found at www.nyc.gov/buildings, indicated the project’s price tag is more than $3.7 million.
In a phone interview with the Times Newsweekly on Wednesday, July 30, a DOB spokesperson declined to disclose exact reasons for the application’s denial, referring those questions to the applicant.
A representative of George E. Berger and Associates, an architectural firm based in Tuckahoe in Westchester County which submitted the plan, also declined to discuss the matter, claiming disclosure privileges with its client- Cooper Avenue Group LLC, a managing agency representing the site’s owner, Michael Wilner.
Community Board 5 Chairperson Vincent Arcuri told this paper the DOB also did not provide the advisory body with reasons why the application was denied.
“We never know why it was rejected,” he stated. “It could be just a simple word on a piece of paper was wrong.”
Samaritan Village, a nonprofit agency, submitted a proposal last August to the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to create the shelter accommodating up to 125 homeless families. The DHS approved last December a $27 million contract allowing Samaritan Village to operate the shelter for five years; the owner is responsible for all construction costs and will receive rental payments for its use.
Plans on the DOB database indicated that builders would develop 103 “Class B” units, utility rooms and offices within the warehouse’s four stories. A storage area, utility rooms, offices, maintenance areas and accessory meeting rooms would be created in the cellar.
The plan also includes constructing an extension of just over 9,000 sq. ft. with 13 additional units. Sources familiar with the situation speculated the extension may be the issue holding up the plan’s approval, as it would require further review by the city’s Department of City Planning.
On the DOB database, it was noted that the “Development Challenge Process is pending zoning approval.”
Local legislators and civic activists continue their opposition to the shelter’s creation for a number of reasons, including environmental concerns, projected costs and the city’s policy of warehousing hundreds of people in a given location.
The DHS dismissed many of those claims, pointing to an independent environmental study commissioned with the firm AECOM, which concluded the site was appropriate for the shelter’s development.
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley sent a letter to DHS Commissioner Gilbert Taylor questioning the study’s results and requesting further information. In a July 25 written response obtained by the Times Newsweekly, Taylor sought to reaffirm the study’s findings, noting that environmental tests- which involved eight soil borings made up to 20′-below the surface- “did not indicate the presence of any compounds above” state environmental contamination limits requiring remediation.
The commissioner additionally told Crowley that “water, sewer and gas lines already exist and do not need to be installed,” and no further excavation of the site would be required. Additionally, he noted, surveyors found no major asbestos contamination on site.
In a July 29 letter to City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Arcuri stated Taylor’s response “raises serious questions regarding due diligence, escalated cost for the proposed contract and a reduction of program.”
Citing Taylor’s statements regarding environmental testing and interior work, Arcuri charged the commissioner implied “that there is a reduction of services by virtue of not including the single level, 13 unit structural addition that was in the original contract request.” This would result in “an almost 11 1/2 percent reduction in program.”
Excluding the extension, the shelter would house just 112 families rather than 125. The DHS would compensate Samaritan Village $120 per day per family for the length of its five year contract.
With 112 families on site, Arcuri said, the proposed DHS expenditure would be just over $20.4 million, much lower than the $27 million indicated in the original contract.
“Based on this self-serving letter and the apparent growth in cost for a reduced program, on behalf of Community Board 5 Queens and our communities, I urge you to reject this contract request outright,” Arcuri advised Stringer.
