During the completely phony rally held by City of Yes for Housing Opportunity (CoYHO) “advocates” in City Hall Park, responding to ours held the week before, all sorts of favorable canned statements were made as paid personnel held up banners paid for by our taxpayer dollars.
While the phony rally was going on, the Department of City Planning continued spewing more propaganda—including the graphic above.
This shows two blocks in the Broadway-Flushing neighborhood – 160th to 162nd streets from 35th Avenue to Northern Boulevard. According to the Department of City Planning, if CoYHO is adopted, over a 15-year period only a single “Town Center” apartment building would be built on Northern Boulevard and “3 to 4 ADUs” could be built on the side streets.
As I’ve been saying over and over for the past year: lies, lies, and DAMNED LIES.
For those of you who aren’t aware, the example that DCP is using is in MY neighborhood.
t only have I lived about 3 minutes from the blocks in question for the past 53 years, but I was instrumental in designing the contextual rezonings in Broadway-Flushing that were adopted in 2005 and 2009. I also placed the entirety of Broadway-Flushing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. And I’ve been consultant to the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association for over 20 years, successfully helping their organization enforce their deed restrictions and covenants that give their neighborhood some additional protections from bad development.
What I’m trying to say is I REALLY know my neighborhood. Every. Single. Property.
A ton more housing in every neighborhood
When zoning is changed to allow more development, it will happen – and not just “a little more housing in every neighborhood.”
The two blocks in question have 56 one-family homes and one three-family house that is a 200-year-old farmhouse. On the Northern Boulevard frontage, there are three commercial blocks with storefronts and a single 6-story apartment building with 70 units – completely out of scale with the rest of our community but built a century ago.
The zoning on Northern Boulevard – R5B – ALREADY allows for small apartment buildings to be built, so the “Town Center” zoning, while further increasing density, is what we call misdirection.
If ADUs are allowed on every one and two-family property in the city and the basic zoning regulations are radically changed under the “District Fixes” part of CoYHO, there’s no question that ADUs will pop up EVERYWHERE in places like Broadway-Flushing as well as in YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Transit Oriented OVERDevelopment
And most importantly: what DCP purposefully didn’t show in their propaganda is that the properties within 100 feet of 35th Avenue would be eligible for the construction of apartment buildings under the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) part of CoYHO.
All told, in Broadway-Flushing where there are currently 56 one-family homes; one three-family farmhouse; one Community Facility; one 70 unit apartment building; and three buildings with ground floor commercial use, CoYHO would enable up to 7 apartment buildings with 112 units (TODs); 50 converted cellars, basements, attics, additions, garages or new backyard houses (ADUs); and 3 apartment buildings with 107 units (Town Center) on Northern Boulevard.
The potential for additional development is staggering: 129 units of housing under current zoning to 321 units under CoYHO.
That’s a 249% increase! – and no additional required parking!
Sadly, a similar impact will be felt in Middle Village between Metropolitan Avenue and Eliot Avenue along 69th Street, due to the presence of the M train terminal.
Where CoYHO stands
What happened after this propaganda push was a rush to make minor modifications to the zoning text to appease just enough Council Members to push the plan through.
Subsequently, CoYHO was passed by the City Council’s Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee in a 4-3 vote, immediately followed by an 8-2 vote at the Council’s Land Use Committee. The final vote happens December 5th by the full City Council. Nothing substantial was modified so all that bad stuff I have been warning you about for the past year is still in there. Parking was adjusted somewhat, but most new ADUs will not require parking.
We have plans in place should the Council pass the legislation at the beginning of December, which will be detailed in the next Juniper Berry. But it’s certain that as he prepares for trial next spring, the grinch known as indicted Mayor Eric Adams will do his best to steal New Yorkers’ quality of life just in time for Christmas.
