South Park Slope Community Group

There is a reason why most developers prevail when a vesting case goes through an appeals process like the BSA cases we are fighting now. Money! And lots of it. When the residents of 15th and 16th street realized it was going to take more expertise than they had to fight Katan, they hired a lawyer. With the victory in hand the bill has been submitted. And it will take a very long time to pay it off.

We’ve all put in time, energy and money in this fight but now we need to dig deeper and help pay for this victory.

Make checks payable to: *SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD FUND*
Mail to:
D. Liebowitz
170 15th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

We are in the process of organizing our group as a Not For Profit. Until then please don’t hesitate to get out the checkbook now.

Thanks to Tom Gray from CM Bill deBlasio’s Office and and to Jeremy Laufer, CB 7 District Manager, who within 24 hours helped 6 of the 7 families forced out of 1504 8th Avenue into temporary housing arrangements. The resident is just waiting on a call back to make a decision on his options. In addition to Tony and Jeremy’s great work, the Red Hook Community Justice Center has arranged for a mediation session for the tenants and the landlord to sit down and work out the legal issues surrounding this forced eviction.

From fellow South Sloper’s blog IMBY:

Eight families are homeless tonight. Earlier today, at 3pm, the DoB determined that 1504 Eighth Avenue was no longer safe, and ordered a building wide VACATE ORDER. After re-examining the side wall, inspectors for the DoB found that the cracks in the facade were indeed growing larger. With the Stop Work Order in place at 406 15th, and the drilling rig silent, the building continued in its path to ruin…

For more on the current situation and the IMBY blog, click here>

This morning the BSA unanimously voted to deny the vesting application of developer Isaac Katan’s 182 15th St. proposed 11-story tower. Our community has at last won its first BSA appeal case (three earlier properties were granted vestment).

We are most encouraged that the BSA took seriously the community’s allegations of illegal and improper practices that took place on this site during demolition, excavation and foundation construction and requested the Dept. of Buildings to investigate the allegations and provide a final determination. The conclusion of the DOB’s July 13 response letter to the Board says it all and reiterates what our community has said time and again: “Global Development should not be rewarded for illegal construction undertaken in an effort to beat the zoning clock.”

Developer’s attorney Howard Hornstein of Cozen O’Connor has 30 days to appeal the BSA’s decision to the State Supreme Court. (The higher courts have in the past supported BSA decisions.)

07/27 UPDATE. Read the official text released by the BSA. (This is .pdf document.)

On Tuesday, July 25, 2006, the Board of Standards and Appeals will give their decision on the vesting of 182 15th St., developer Issac Katan’s proposed 11-story condo tower.

If the Board grants the appeal, debated over three hearings since March, Katan will have a green light to construct yet another out-of-context building to match his Bricolage masterpiece growing taller by the day across the street on 16th.

We hope the BSA heard us at our rally last week and will set a new precedent by doing the right thing. 10am at the BSA, 40 Rector Street, 6th fl., New York City.

By Charles Hack
Park Slope Courier

Questioning the city’s willingness and ability to protect communities from illegal development and overbuilding, community groups and politicians rallied to demand that the Board of Standards and Appeals reject two South Park Slope applications.

“They want to continue under the old zoning and allow their illegally overbuilt plans to be built here,” said Assemblymember James Brennan, speaking at a recent protest at the 15th Street property. “And we say no.”

The developers of 182th 15th St. and 614 7th Ave. had applied to the BSA to allow them to finish building with partially completed foundations, under old zoning laws.

One apartment building, planned by Global Development, at 15th Street would soar 11 stories. The other at 7th Avenue, which is to be built by HMS Associates, would rise five stories, or 70 feet. It has threatened to block the historical view between Lady Liberty and Green Wood Cemetery.

Department of Buildings inspectors stopped the work last year because the foundations were not complete when new stringent zoning laws came into effect last November.

Opponents said numerous building code and zoning violations, stop work orders, and video recordings proved that builders had cut corners to get their buildings vested.

To win their appeals, the developers will have to prove their foundations are substantially complete.

Opponents of the development argue that the BSA should not allow any illegal work to count toward completion, which they say accounts for most of the work that was done.

“We have zero tolerance for irresponsible developers who feel they can flout the law and get away with it while disrupting the lives of their neighbors and doing serious damage to the fabric of the neighborhood,” said Michael Schweinsburg, a spokesperson for Councilmember Sara Gonzalez.

Attorney Caroline Harris of Troutman Sanders, acting on behalf of the South Slope Community Group, recently showed segments from video recordings to the BSA of questionable activity at 182 15th St. The footage showed an excavator bashing down a building using a bucket while a worker vainly used a hose to try to dampen clouds of dust that rose up around him. It also shows a man purportedly wandering out of an asbestos abatement area without required protective equipment.

Harris testified that the recordings prove that mechanical demolition was being done in August without permits, and that workmen continued to dampen the site and handle asbestos incorrectly after receiving DOB violations.

The question now for the BSA is whether they are mandated to make their decision based on only a snapshot of how far the foundations have progressed on the day the new zoning came into affect

By Nik Kovac
Brooklyn Downtown Star

All the BSA asked for was a written brief. Community activists in South Park Slope gave them that, and more.

Dozens of angry citizens gathered with their political representatives on south 15th Street to demand that the supposedly new and improved Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) stop acting like it’s old, rubberstamping self.

All summer, optimism was running high in the recently downzoned residential communities northwest of Greenwood Cemetery. The four BSA commissioners – two of which were recent appointees with a third on the way – seemed to be asking tough questions of the developers seeking to circumvent the new law.

There are seven properties hoping to build taller than currently allowed by being vested, or grandfathered in, under the old zoning. Last month, two of the properties – 400 15th Street and 639 6th Avenue – which seemed to have the least chance of success were granted their requested variances by the BSA.

This sent shock waves of anger through the growing coalition of contextual development advocates, and the high turnout at this week’s rally was evidence of that. Decisions are currently pending on the two most prominent properties – 182 15th Street and 614 7th Avenue – and Tuesday, July 11, the community’s brief was due.

“If these properties are allowed to vest,” rallied councilman Tony Avella, the Queens councilman who never misses a Brooklyn rally, “it will set a precedent that developers can walk all over us anywhere in the city.”

If may be Brooklyn today, he was implying, but it could be Queens tomorrow. Joining Avella in solidarity was state politician James Brennan and federal candidate Chris Owens.

Now that the community has filed its briefs, the developers’ lawyers have a week to respond, and the BSA’s decisions should follow shortly after that.

To read this article on-line at the BDS, click here>

By Elizabeth Hayes
NY Daily News

Outraged south Park Slope and Greenwood Heights residents are battling developers who want to build two luxury condo towers far taller than new zoning allows.
The developers argue they had most of their foundations built when the new zoning took effect last November, and should be allowed to continue work.

But residents say the developers worked illegally after hours and on weekends at one site, and they are calling on the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) to nix the appeal.

“If the BSA grants these appeals … it sends a message to all developers that illegal and unsafe practices will be rewarded,” said advocate Aaron Brashear at a protest yesterday at 182 15th St., where developer Isaac Katan is seeking to build up to 131 feet. New zoning regulations would allow just 50 feet.

Critics charged that Katan worked illegally to beat the new zoning rules, working after hours and on weekends and doing mechanical demolition without a permit. They submitted a DVD of alleged video evidence to the Buildings Department to back up the claim.

The other building in question is the so-called Minerva Building at 614 7th Ave.

Residents feared the planned 70-foot condo tower would block the historic view between the Minerva statue in Green-Wood Cemetery and the Statue of Liberty. Developer Chaim Nussencweig has promised the view will be preserved no matter what happens with the appeal, but residents remain skeptical.

Residents say work at the Minerva site should not be allowed to continue because the Buildings Department has determined that much of the construction was done under permits later found to be invalid.

Howard Hornstein, an attorney for both projects, said he is confident the projects will go forward.

“We think we proved our case in both cases,” he said.

BSA Executive Director Jeff Mulligan declined to comment on the pending applications.

The BSA is slated to make a decision on the 7th Ave. site July 18, though that could be pushed back to Aug. 22, Mulligan said. A decision on the 15th St. site is due July 25.

To read this article at the NYDN, click here>

Huge success at Tuesday’s press event/rally. Lots of folks, electeds (and their reps), CB7, Union members and the press. Hot time had by all…including “the Rat!”

AM Brennan, CM Avella, Randy Peers of CB7 (and what seemed to be half of the Community Board in tow) and the other elected’s reps and support activism groups, were in good company as the 75-100 folks let their voices be heard on our thoughts on the BSA appeals on 182 15th St and 614 7th Ave.

While the “Don’t reward developers for illegal activity” and “Do the
right thing, BSA!” were injected again and again, we all loved John Burns’s remark regarding developers’ attorney Howard Hornstein’s attempts to turn “fiction into fact” when attempting to argue the legitimacy of either of these properties right to vest.

We hope the rally struck “pay dirt” in the mindset of the BSA and that they will “do the right thing” on 7/25 for 182 15th St. and 8/22 for 614 7th Ave.

Make sure to put those dates in your calendars!

Thanks again to all who came out in the 88+ degree heat to stand in unison and say “NO VESTING” for hopefully the final time to these two properties.

Press Coverage (we could not include on-line the NY1, BKLYN 12 and Brooklyn Eagle pieces that ran):

Condo tower plan illegal, outraged locals charge- NY Daily News

Battleground: Park Slope – Opponents Clash With BSA-Park Slope Courier

The Vest Case Scenario-Brooklyn Downtown Star / Queens Ledger

Please join the South Park Slope Community Group and the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Hts. at our press conference

TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2006
1:00 PM
182 15th Street, Brooklyn NY (between 4th and 5th Aves)

Speakers will include Assemblymember James Brennan, Councilmember Sara Gonzalez, Councilmember Bill deBlasio (TBD), Councilmember Tony Avella (TBD), representatives from Congressmember Nydia Velazquez and Assemblymember Joan Millman, Community Board 7 and others.

Developers must not be rewarded for illegal and unsafe construction! The developers of 182 15th Street (11-story tower) and 614 7th Avenue (the “Minerva” building) are asking the Board of Standards and Appeals for the privilege of “vesting” under the old zoning of the recently rezoned South Park Slope/Greenwood Hts. area. We must tell the BSA not to reward their illegal activities as they attempted to “beat the clock” before the rezoning.

JOIN US ON JULY 11th! DEMAND THAT THE BSA “DOES THE RIGHT THING!”