One local lawmaker is continuing the fight against developers who want to transform a former electrician’s office in Ridgewood into a five-story apartment building.
Since December 2016, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan — along with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Assemblyman Mike Miller and state Senators Michael Gianaris and Joe Addabbo — have worked to stop this conversion at 455 Onderdonk Ave., which they believe is out of character with the surrounding buildings and neighborhood.
According to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), plans were filed on Dec. 14, 2016, to create a five-story, 15-unit apartment building which will include a nine-car on-site parking garage.
Elected officials promptly wrote a joint letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio outlining their opposition to the proposed building later that month.
In February, Nolan and the rest of the elected officials received a letter from Patrick Wehle, assistant commissioner of external affairs with the DOB, stating that since the area is located in an R6B Zone, the proposed use is permitted as of right within the zoning district.
However, the project’s plans are currently in disapproved status because of DOB objections, but if all objections are satisfactorily changed, DOB “has no grounds to not approve the job and issue permits,” Wehle said.
According to the DOB, the plan’s permit application was incomplete at the time of the scheduled plan exam.
Nolan has also asked Community Board 5 (CB 5) as well as the chair of the NYC Department of City Planning, Maria Lago, to examine the zoning in the area.
“I ask that NYC Planning and the Community Board work together to come up with a better zoning plan so that large buildings like this cannot be built as of right in this section of Ridgewood,” Nolan said in a statement to QNS on March 17. “The community’s character and local review must be taken into consideration before a development like this is allowed to be built.”
