Column from Sandi Lusk (WSZIO)
I am writing this column to share updates on two major issues: Blondell Commons and the Friends Cemetery affordable housing project in Westchester Square.
First: Blondell Commons.
This was approved by the City Council a few weeks ago, and so will become a reality. The most recent information we have on this, is that it will be funded by HPD under the ELLA (Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability) Program. From the HPD website: ELLA is for low income multi-family rental projects affordable to households earning a range of incomes from 30% to 60% of Area Median Income (AMI; the area median income is the household income for the median — or middle — household in a region); 30% of the apartments are affordable to extremely low and very low-incomes between 30% - 50% AMI. From what I understand, it will include 15% formerly homeless. Also, the height and density have been reduced from 9 stories to 7 stories (the 7th story to be set back), with a consequent reduction in units, although the parking (220 spaces) will remain the same. Here I thank Councilman Gjonaj, who negotiated the reduction in height/density in an effort to mitigate the impact of the new construction on the surrounding community. As it is a brownfield site (meaning contaminated from former uses) the first thing will be a massive cleanup of the site before any construction is begun.
Next up: the Friend's Cemetery 11-story affordable housing project. The Ad Hoc Committee for the Preservation of the Friend's Cemetery in Westchester Square has written several letters to the counsel for St Peter's Church (which initiated the project to lease the land to HPD, which at the time was "as of right" because of the extant zoning), the Episcopal Bishop with jurisdiction over the church, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The issue is whether the build site land is 1) landmarked, and 2) a cemetery with historical burials possibly going back to the late 1600s-early 1700s, when there were two Friends Meeting Houses nearby; one on the site, and the other across the street. We have documents that attest to these claims, including a 1976 statement from the LPC declaring part of Lot 6 (the build site) to be landmarked and maps going back to the 1860s showing the site as the Friends Cemetery. We sent these documents along with our letters. Here is the follow-up:
The LPC, in a discussion with community board 10 has declared that no part of the build site is in fact landmarked (although that is clearly not according to their own documentation). They also say it is not a cemetery, although it shows up on maps and tax documents as a cemetery. The church's lawyer has not responded directly to us, but did respond to local media saying that some kind of boring or radar was done and found nothing. Only Bishop Dietsche responded to us via email, and I am summarizing his response here:
"Bishop Dietsche…is aware that the proposed project of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and its partners was identified by the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of New York as having potential cultural sensitivity and requiring a “Phase IA Sensitivity Assessment,” which was recently completed. While a 2016 survey using ground-penetrating radar found no evidence of burials south of St. Peter’s Drive, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church will soon carry out a “Phase IB Archaeological Field Testing” to make sure that the proposed building site shows no other sign of cultural resources, including unmarked graves. Bishop Dietsche is awaiting the results of that study before he makes a final decision whether to consent to this project."
We walked the site with a reporter from NY1 the other day. Our goal was and is to find out what/who is or is not buried in Lot 6 before the backhoes come and begin tearing everything up.
However, now there is a new wrinkle to this story. Last month the Pastor of St Peter's church came back to the community board and asked for a commercial overlay to be part of the project, so there can be storefronts, or whatever in the building. This will trigger the ULURP process and hearings at Community Board 10, which will allow the community board and the public to officially comment on this. There will be a public hearing on this sometime during the summer. I invite other civic groups, and anyone who has an opinion on this to please come and give testimony on this. Apparently it is another project, like Blondell Commons, that the community only found out about at the 11th hour after years of behind the scenes preparation. The homeowners who will be directly next to and most impacted by these projects only found out about them because we told them about it, and we only found out almost by chance. It is very important that the community speak up at the hearing.
One last word on these affordable housing projects, which are happening all over the Bronx. You can see row after row of them from the 6 train; huge square buildings jammed on top of one another. The Mayor is entering into sweetheart deals with developers and landlords (I won't even address the issue of the fat profits they are getting from our tax dollars [not to mention the fact that in the St Peter's case taxpayer dollars are going to support a failing church, which is tax exempt] because that rant would take 10 pages at least) to build these buildings on a massive scale. It used to be that the "luxury" buildings were the exception, and housing was just housing. What has changed? Is it the greed of landlords? The tax abatements and incentives and subsidies as low hanging fruit to make a new category of "affordable housing"? The buildings going up are like Clockwork Orange dystopian apartment blocks, on a huge scale set in communities that do not have the resources to support them (ie, schools, subway/bus capacity). This is growth at its worst: unplanned and motivated by greed. There is a rational way to build affordable housing (the very term bothers me) and to integrate it into the existing community. Obviously that is not quick or profitable enough.
Also, now that our summer program permit has been approved, we are looking for a counselor to help run it. Applicants should be aged 16-18(ish). Must be patient and like kids. They will work with an experienced person who has helped run the program for the past several years. Good opportunity also for a student who may need community credits. This is a paid position ($17 an hour) for 16 hours on 4 Saturdays: July 27 through August 17. We will start interviews in June if you know of anyone interested. Contact us via email wszio@aol.com.
And that's all for now. Happy belated Mother's Day. Every mother is a working woman.
TTFN.
I am writing this column to share updates on two major issues: Blondell Commons and the Friends Cemetery affordable housing project in Westchester Square.
First: Blondell Commons.
This was approved by the City Council a few weeks ago, and so will become a reality. The most recent information we have on this, is that it will be funded by HPD under the ELLA (Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability) Program. From the HPD website: ELLA is for low income multi-family rental projects affordable to households earning a range of incomes from 30% to 60% of Area Median Income (AMI; the area median income is the household income for the median — or middle — household in a region); 30% of the apartments are affordable to extremely low and very low-incomes between 30% - 50% AMI. From what I understand, it will include 15% formerly homeless. Also, the height and density have been reduced from 9 stories to 7 stories (the 7th story to be set back), with a consequent reduction in units, although the parking (220 spaces) will remain the same. Here I thank Councilman Gjonaj, who negotiated the reduction in height/density in an effort to mitigate the impact of the new construction on the surrounding community. As it is a brownfield site (meaning contaminated from former uses) the first thing will be a massive cleanup of the site before any construction is begun.
Next up: the Friend's Cemetery 11-story affordable housing project. The Ad Hoc Committee for the Preservation of the Friend's Cemetery in Westchester Square has written several letters to the counsel for St Peter's Church (which initiated the project to lease the land to HPD, which at the time was "as of right" because of the extant zoning), the Episcopal Bishop with jurisdiction over the church, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The issue is whether the build site land is 1) landmarked, and 2) a cemetery with historical burials possibly going back to the late 1600s-early 1700s, when there were two Friends Meeting Houses nearby; one on the site, and the other across the street. We have documents that attest to these claims, including a 1976 statement from the LPC declaring part of Lot 6 (the build site) to be landmarked and maps going back to the 1860s showing the site as the Friends Cemetery. We sent these documents along with our letters. Here is the follow-up:
The LPC, in a discussion with community board 10 has declared that no part of the build site is in fact landmarked (although that is clearly not according to their own documentation). They also say it is not a cemetery, although it shows up on maps and tax documents as a cemetery. The church's lawyer has not responded directly to us, but did respond to local media saying that some kind of boring or radar was done and found nothing. Only Bishop Dietsche responded to us via email, and I am summarizing his response here:
"Bishop Dietsche…is aware that the proposed project of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and its partners was identified by the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of New York as having potential cultural sensitivity and requiring a “Phase IA Sensitivity Assessment,” which was recently completed. While a 2016 survey using ground-penetrating radar found no evidence of burials south of St. Peter’s Drive, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church will soon carry out a “Phase IB Archaeological Field Testing” to make sure that the proposed building site shows no other sign of cultural resources, including unmarked graves. Bishop Dietsche is awaiting the results of that study before he makes a final decision whether to consent to this project."
We walked the site with a reporter from NY1 the other day. Our goal was and is to find out what/who is or is not buried in Lot 6 before the backhoes come and begin tearing everything up.
However, now there is a new wrinkle to this story. Last month the Pastor of St Peter's church came back to the community board and asked for a commercial overlay to be part of the project, so there can be storefronts, or whatever in the building. This will trigger the ULURP process and hearings at Community Board 10, which will allow the community board and the public to officially comment on this. There will be a public hearing on this sometime during the summer. I invite other civic groups, and anyone who has an opinion on this to please come and give testimony on this. Apparently it is another project, like Blondell Commons, that the community only found out about at the 11th hour after years of behind the scenes preparation. The homeowners who will be directly next to and most impacted by these projects only found out about them because we told them about it, and we only found out almost by chance. It is very important that the community speak up at the hearing.
One last word on these affordable housing projects, which are happening all over the Bronx. You can see row after row of them from the 6 train; huge square buildings jammed on top of one another. The Mayor is entering into sweetheart deals with developers and landlords (I won't even address the issue of the fat profits they are getting from our tax dollars [not to mention the fact that in the St Peter's case taxpayer dollars are going to support a failing church, which is tax exempt] because that rant would take 10 pages at least) to build these buildings on a massive scale. It used to be that the "luxury" buildings were the exception, and housing was just housing. What has changed? Is it the greed of landlords? The tax abatements and incentives and subsidies as low hanging fruit to make a new category of "affordable housing"? The buildings going up are like Clockwork Orange dystopian apartment blocks, on a huge scale set in communities that do not have the resources to support them (ie, schools, subway/bus capacity). This is growth at its worst: unplanned and motivated by greed. There is a rational way to build affordable housing (the very term bothers me) and to integrate it into the existing community. Obviously that is not quick or profitable enough.
Also, now that our summer program permit has been approved, we are looking for a counselor to help run it. Applicants should be aged 16-18(ish). Must be patient and like kids. They will work with an experienced person who has helped run the program for the past several years. Good opportunity also for a student who may need community credits. This is a paid position ($17 an hour) for 16 hours on 4 Saturdays: July 27 through August 17. We will start interviews in June if you know of anyone interested. Contact us via email wszio@aol.com.
And that's all for now. Happy belated Mother's Day. Every mother is a working woman.
TTFN.
