South Park Slope Community Group

The Board of Standards of Appeals has scheduled a Special Hearing at 10:00am on Wednesday, March 29, 2006, on the BZY and “A” (hardship) applications of six properties in our community who are requesting to be vested under R6 zoning.

In January and February, Community Board 7 held three public hearings on seven properties that have filed applications for vesting. At its subsequent monthly meetings, the Board voted unanimously against the vesting of all seven properties.

Please make all effort to attend this Hearing to show the BSA that our community, which fought long and hard for rezoning, does not believe developers should be rewarded for bad behavior. Public testimony (three minutes allowed!) will be heard. You must bring photo ID to enter the building.

NYC Board of Standards and Appeals
40 Rector Street, 6th Floor, 6E-Conference Room
New York, NY 10006

Properties to be heard, in order of hearing:
245 16th Street
614 7th Ave.
182 15th Street
422 Prospect Ave.
400 15th Street (BZY and A)
639 Sixth Ave. (BZY and A)

Download a flyer to hand out to neighbors an friends. Click here.

Community Board 7 is one of the only districts in the five boroughs that does not have a high school. Twice before the city has set aside funding (in 1969 and 2000) only to remove the money before construction could begin. This cycle is happening all over again.

In 2004 funding was again set aside for a Sunset Park High School. The school was expected to be completed by 2008. In December we found out that the money was in danger of being pulled off the table.

Last week’s announcement by Mayor Bloomberg stating that the City could not complete their budgeted education improvements has not ended Sunset Park’s hopes for its first ever High School. While the city has put up its half of the money, we will not know the future of our school until the State passes its budget and puts up their half. The State budget is supposed to pass by April 1st. Sunset Park High is budgeted at $93 million.

On Feburary 13, Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer addressed the City Council Education Committee. You can read his testimony here. (This is a .pdf document.)

You are encouraged to write your elected State officials and request by name that Sunset Park High School receive its full funding in the current fiscal year and vote against any budget that doesn’t contain these funds.

And finally *Thursday: March 9, 6:30pm. Sunset Park High School Task Force meeting will be meeting at CB7.* This meeting is open to the public.

Trucks can be seen pumping cement for an illegal foundation at this site while a Stop Work Order is in place. This property did not vest as an R6 property when our community was rezoned in November and the developer filed a BZY application with the Board of Standards and Appeals requesting vesting under old zoning. In January, Community Board 7 unanimously voted to not recommend vesting of this site; the application will be heard at the BSA on March 29. No (legal!) work can be done at this site unless until the BSA approves vesting. As you can see, this developer doesn’t see the need to wait. Where is DOB now?

03-09. UPDATE: According to the DOB, they have approved work by the developer to repair the foundation of the bulding they damaged when they first started digging. No way to know, though, if that is all they are doing.

By Charles Hack
*Park Slope Courier*

Are some developers above the law?

That is what some community leaders are asking after trucks delivered concrete to a South Park Slope building site all morning, allegedly without the required permits