A new public school will be built on the site of a proposed residential development in Woodside that the City Council approved on Oct. 31, City Councilman Robert Holden announced..
“We have severe overcrowding in the schools in my district,” said Holden. ” So I cannot accept large housing developments without also trying to create new schools.”
The new school will be built as part of the mixed-use development for the site at 69-02 Queens Blvd. It will be for kindergarten through fifth grade with 476 seats.
The site itself is located within School District 24, the most overcrowded school district in New York City.
While Holden remains firmly against overdevelopment within his City Council district, he said that he was happy the developer, Madison Reality Capital, was willing to negotiate an agreement that made more sense for the surrounding community.
Holden also pushed the developer to reduce the height of the building by four stories, increase the number of 2-bedroom units and redesign the parking entrance to include more parking spaces, which the developer agreed to do.
According to Holden, the original proposal was too large and too dense. Madison Reality Capital wants to build a 431-unit site with 129 affordable housing units. Besides the school units the developer is planning on to put a 32BJ building-services union on the site.
“Any developer targeting my district for future projects should expect me to fight for these quality of life issues for my constituents,” said Holden.
