South Park Slope Community Group

*Park Slope Courier.*

By Michele De Meglio

“Nasty” developers have created a ruckus in Park Slope by constructing fences on residents’ property.

Planning to build a nine-story residential building at 408 15 th Street, developers infuriated locals when they set up shop on Saturday, April 16th.

“They started ripping down my neighbor’s fences claiming they had the right to put up construction,” said a 16 th Street resident who asked that her name be withheld. “It was really outrageous.”

The fences were positioned six feet deep into the backyards of the houses located directly behind the 15 th Street property, which is currently a parking lot, she said.

Another 16 th Street resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said workers were instructed to install the wood panel fences by “one man named Louis of Sanchez Associates who said he was the owner. He was in charge. There was also a foreman named Lorenzo.”

Upon seeing what was going on, some locals began removing the fences from their backyards. “I was throwing their materials over the fence. I wasn’t really angry but I was a little bothered that they had come there and done that without asking,” said Pastor Stephen Christopher of Memorial Baptist Church, 1506 Eighth Avenue, which is also located behind the lot.

Hoping to keep the fences up, workers pleaded for the locals’ cooperation, the 16 th Street resident said. “They walked to our property and said, ‘We’ll give you $1,000. We’ll give you free parking,’” she recalled. “It’s nasty.” One homeowner didn’t bite and instead called the police. “The cops came and chased them off our properties,” the 16 th Street resident said. However, Christopher eventually allowed the fence to be constructed in the church’s backyard. “We’re going to rent the space to them,” he said. The pastor agreed to a deal in order to provide the church with an additional stream of money.

Christopher is currently consulting realtors and lawyers to decide how much he should charge to allow the fence to remain. There will also be stipulations that the church’s land must be restored to its original condition.

“They’re going to be building the building right up to the property line and they need some room to put up scaffolding and that sort of deal…If they couldn’t use that property, it would slow them down so they’re going to have to pay, “Christopher said. “If they don’t meet our price, they’re going to have to take down their fence.”

Still reeling from the Saturday incident, residents have now set their sights on the 85-foot-tall building that will be constructed on the lot.

“We know that it’s going to be a horrifyingly tall box with three stories underground. It’s probably going to shake the hell out of my foundation. It’s very, very scary,” the 16th Street resident said.

According to plans filed with the city Department of Buildings (DOB), the nine-story, 47-unit building – there will be three additional basement levels – is slated to provide housing for the faculty of Yeshiva Gedolah Bais Yisroel, 2002 Ocean Avenue.

Two of the underground levels will be used as parking lots, with one floor holding 17 cars and the other storing 14.

The 16th Street resident said she is troubled by plans to provide ventilation in the underground parking lots.

“There are these two fans to get rid of carbon monoxide in the garage. Where are they pointed? They’re pointing to our yard. That’s a huge environmental problem,” she said. In the houses in back of the lot, “there’s probably 8-10 children. The whole block is full of children.”

The additional basement level will house a medical facility.

Some residents question the validity of the work detailed in the plans.

The 16th Street resident said another building was recently constructed under the pretext that it would be faculty housing for a yeshiva.

Located on 22 nd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, the building is now being used as housing for doctors from nearby New York Methodist Hospital, confirmed Lyn Hill, spokesperson for the hospital.

“That was also the same yeshiva faculty housing bull,” the 16th Street resident said. “It was the same kind of information on paper.”

Regardless of who ultimately utilizes the building being constructed on 15 th Street, John Burns, founder and chair of the South South Slope Community Group, warned that the size of the structure would tax local resources.

The building “will place a great strain upon the community as far as traffic and congestion,” he said.

Neither Sanchez nor Bricolage Designs, which the DOB lists as the developer of the 15th Street site, returned calls for comment by the time this paper went to press. Yeshiva Gedolah Bais Yisroel could not be reached by press time.

DOB Spokesperson Jennifer Givner said residents have not contacted the city agency about the site. “This address has no complaints on record, which means that they’re not calling the Department of Buildings or 311,” she said. “If they do have problems, we encourage them to call 311.”

_Reprinted with permission of the Park Slope Courier._