Brisa Builders Previews New Far Rockaway Development During CB14 Meeting
Plans are underway for a new residential building in Far Rockaway that will provide a total of 92 affordable housing units to some of the city’s most vulnerable populations and other local residents upon completion.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Brisa Builders Corp. Chairperson/CEO Ericka Keller appeared before Community Board 14 to present the plan for the planned 65,000-gross-square-foot building, which will be located at 19-19 Cornaga Ave. For this development, Brisa Builders Corp. is working with the city and receiving funding from the state with a 9% tax credit allocation.
“This property was purchased in 2019, and we have been back and forth with the city in an attempt to [develop] an affordable housing project [with] 92 units,” Keller said in opening remarks. “To some extent, Rockaway has been overdeveloped most recently, and so we are sensitive to the community in reference to the parking,” she added. “Far Rockaway is considered a non-transit development in the Downtown Far Rockaway area; however, because this building is serving certain populations, there was a waiver for the parking.”
According to the project plans, 60% of the units will be designated for individuals requiring supporting services, while the remaining 40% will be available to people through a lottery and referral system via the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA).
Within the designated 60%, 30% will be for homeless people living in shelters in accordance with a city requirement, while other units will go toward youth aging out of foster care and other challenged populations due to the developer receiving an Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) grant. Upon completion, the new building will include 60 studio apartments, 16 one-bedroom apartments, and 16 two-bedroom apartments.
“We are very prescribed in reference to what we can do, and we have to get approvals from the city, and the city would not allow for us to provide parking for this particular project because of the type of funding that we’re receiving,” Keller explained.
Following Keller’s presentation, CB14 member Samuel Jaroslawicz and CB14 Third Vice-Chair Nancy Martinez voiced concerns about the development and expressed frustration over the project being “as of right,” meaning the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process is not necessary and the CB14 doesn’t have a say as a result.
“Our elected officials said that was enough affordable housing, but this is a bait and switch,” Martinez said. “This ‘as of right’ is something that we [have] no say in, so everywhere around the corner in our downtown area, we have an affordable housing building coming up with 80-90 units, so now instead of 10,000 people, we have like 30,000 people,” she added. “I have investments in Downtown Far Rockaway; I live in Downtown Far Rockaway, and you’re making my property go all the way down.”
Another concern expressed by both members of the community and CB14 was how the new development will affect the next-door Kosher Supermarket since the new building will take up the existing parking lot that customers have used while shopping.
Keller addressed this concern, adding that she has connected with the business owner and property owner in hopes that the latter will agree to develop a parking lot in another nearby lot that he owns and currently sits vacant.
While acknowledging the frustrations with the development, CB14 Chair Dolores Orr and District Manager Felicia Johnson commended Keller for her transparency – something that doesn’t always happen with these projects.
“To be fair, a building went up on Foam Place over the summer…[and] nobody knew what kind of building it was going to be,” Johnson recalled. “They didn’t even come before the Community Board to say, ‘We’re building a building.’ There was no respect there at all,” she added. “The fact that somebody is building ‘as of right’ and they just wanted to come and include the community and inform [us] about what is going on is a lot different.”
Read the original article here