BYLAWS REVISED: After taking heat from a group of neighbors upset about a drug treatment facility proposed for Kings Highway, Community Board 15 voted to revise a section of their bylaws that would require more intense community outreach in the run-up to a hearing for similar facilities in the future.
Archive for the tag 'community board 15'
Community Board 15 is meeting today, April 23, at 7:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Community College (2001 Oriental Boulavard) in the faculty dining room.
On the agenda is a public hearing on the following zoning item:
- 712 Avenue W - An application for a Special Permit to allow the enlargement of a single family dwelling within the Special Ocean Parkway District.
- 1957 East 14th Street – An application for a Special Permit to allow the enlargement of a single family dwelling.
- 176 Oxford Street – An application for a Special Permit to allow the enlargement of a single family dwelling.
There will also be time to hear residents’ concerns and discuss various committee reports, and elected officials may be in attendance.
And then there were two!
Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo became the second candidate to officially announce a bid to replace term-limited City Councilman Michael Nelson this year, touting her lifetime residency in the neighborhood and her seven-year-long tenure as the Board’s chairperson.
“Because of my work at Community Board 15, I am able to hear the problems that are being faced day after day by our neighbors,” Scavo said during her remarks before the Highway Democratic Club at Mirage Diner (717 Kings Highway) last Thursday. “To solve these problems, no matter where you live, we need leadership, we need a vision and we need a commitment from someone who cares.”
THE COMMUTE: (Here is Part 1 from last week). The B44 is different from other Select Bus Service (SBS) routes because the SBS will not take the same route as the local. It will utilize Rogers Avenue northbound instead of New York Avenue, making it more difficult to access Kings County Hospital. It will also provide a glut of northbound bus service on Rogers Avenue while cutting New York Avenue service by 50 percent.
Another difference is that it will not use all articulated buses as the M15 and Bx12 do, or all standard length buses as the S79 and S78 do. The B44 SBS will use the longer articulated buses, but the locals will continue to use the standard length buses, as last proposed. Wouldn’t that mean there should be more locals than SBS buses on the B44? The MTA does not think so.
Built for expansion: This owner of this Beaumont Street home violated the terms of their special application, so they tore down their home and rebuilt this structure so they could apply again. (Source: CB15)
“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.
Enlargement denied: Community Board 15 said a Manhattan Beach homeowner’s request to expand his home would set a bad precedent after learning that the homeowner previously dodged zoning laws, got caught, tore down his home and rebuilt it – all to try for the permit for a second time.
Owners of the home at 282 Beaumont Street, one house in from the water, sought to expand their two-story home by adding a third story, bulking out the building in the front and the rear, and doubling the floor area allowed by zoning standards. But, during questioning at the public hearing, Community Board members expressed concern that the homeowner had previously got caught dodging zoning, and rebuilt a shoddy house with the intention of coming before the Board for a new application.
“Since [violating zoning laws and having the permits revoked,] the owners constructed a new home that appears to be purposely built to be destroyed,” said neighbor Samuel Falack, who lives on the block and also spoke on behalf of the Manhattan Beach Community Group. “It has a shabbily built second floor and a flat roof that has pipes leading to what they hope will be an attic or a third floor with the expectation that a second special permit will be granted.”
Falack called the application disingenuous, and urged the Board to oppose it.
Keep reading to find out what happened, and other information from the Community Board 15 meeting.
Community Board 15 is meeting today, March 19, at 7:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Community College (2001 Oriental Boulavard) in the faculty dining room. Please note that the meeting is a week earlier this month than usual.
On the agenda is a public hearing on the following zoning item:
- 282 Beaumont Street - An application for a Special Permit to allow the enlargement of a single family dwelling.
There will also be time to hear residents’ concerns and discuss various committee reports, and elected officials may be in attendance.
THE COMMUTE: According to Theresa Scavo, chairperson of Community Board 15, the MTA stated that it is now too late to request additional stops to the B44 Select Bus Service (SBS) because maps have already been printed. She made that announcement at this month’s Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association (MBNA) meeting. She also stated that the board is still fighting the reduction in available parking spaces. However, that is the least of the problems this route will cause.
If it is too late to add an SBS stop at Avenue R, a likely assumption would be that it is also too late to change the route as I recommended back in 2011. I suggested that the southern portion of the B44 SBS terminate off-route at the Sheepshead Bay station instead of at Knapp Street and Voorhies Avenue, using Avenue Z to get to the station supplementing B36 service.
Whether you agree with me or not is not really important now. What is important is that I received assurances from the MTA Project Director Ted Orosz at the last B44 SBS Workshop that he would investigate my suggestion and get back to me in three months. He also stated that if they agreed that it was feasible to do, and it was something the community wanted, they would change their plans. He never investigated it, nor got back to me as promised.
Muni-Meters across the Sandy-damaged areas have been removed and replaced with traffic cones.
ONLY ON SHEEPSHEAD BITES: The Department of Transportation cut down and removed dozens of Muni-Meter machines this week. But instead of suspending parking regulations on affected streets, the agency is asking residents to walk several blocks to the nearest meter and pay.
“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.
Councilman Fidler Lays Out Green Vision For Coastal Protection: If anyone thinks a seawall will protect Southern Brooklyn from future Sandy-like tidal surges, they need look no further than Sea Gate to put that false theory to rest, Councilman Lew Fidler told Community Board 15 at their meeting last night.
“A lot of people think that you can just build a wall and that will solve all the problems. I suppose if you know people in Sea Gate, you can ask them whether or not that solved their problems,” he said.
Fidler added that the cost of erecting a seawall around the southern end of New York City would be around $5 billion, a hefty price tag for an uncertain solution.
Instead, Councilman Fidler, who said he has held and attended numerous City Council committee hearings on Superstorm Sandy and preparations for future threats, said the city should fight nature with nature.
Community Board 15 will meet tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Community College’s faculty dining room U112 (2001 Oriental Boulevard).
The Board will discuss their annual statement to the city regarding budgetary priorities in the district, and will most likely include several recurring (and unmet) requests for a basket pickup truck for the local Sanitation garage and sewer line upgrades throughout the area. If there’s a local improvement you believe needs to be better funded, make sure to voice your request before the Board sends its statement
Also on the agenda are two public hearings:
- 2057 Ocean Parkway - An application for special permit to allow the enlargement of a single family dwelling
- 2402/16 Knapp Street – An application to permit an alteration and enlargement of the existing repair shop building and its conversion to an accessory convenience store.
There will also be time to hear residents’ concerns and discuss various committee reports.
