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Group takes aim at
Ridgewood project
BY MAX PARROTT
What started as an
informational community
forum on a tentative
rezoning on the property
on 1590 Gates Ave. on June
11 ended up a full-blown
protest against the notion
of housing as a commodity.
Members of the
Ridgewood Tenants
Union (RTU) took over
the meeting by inviting
a series of speakers who
rejected the development
entirely, held the developer
in personal contempt and
questioned Councilman
Antonio Reynoso’s motives
for holding the forum in the
first place.
The developer Avery
Hall Investments is
aiming to rezone the land,
which has an as-of-right
zoning, meaning that the
developer could build up
to 200 apartments without
being required to build any
affordable housing.
Avery Hall’s
representative Brian Ezra
said that he approached
the meeting with the goal
of soliciting suggestions on
ways that he could make
the development more
agreeable to residents.
Instead he was confronted
by residents shouting, “We
don’t want it.”
Ezra began by
presenting a plan to rezone
the building to an R8X
zoning, a design that would
lower the height of the
building from 24 stories to
16, but increase the overall
size of the building to 525
apartments, with 150 of
them affordable units. The
alternative design would
also allow the developer
cut down on the number
of required parking spaces
from 400 to 100. Both plans
would keep the Food Bazaar
Supermarket currently
located on the property
as the bottom story of the
residential structure.
Whereas the developer
legally has the right to
proceed with construction
in its current as-of-right
design, the rezoning would
Protesters hold up an anti-development banner at a June 11
forum on a proposed apartment building in Ridgewood.
require the design to move
through the public review
process by the community
board and City Council.
Ezra added that it was too
early for the developer to
select any of the precise
levels of affordability.
His presentation ended
with a slide that displayed
both the as-of-right plan
and the alternative zoning
on the screen side by side.
“We think that
delivering 150 affordable
units is beneficial versus
no affordable units in the
as-of-right plan,” said Ezra.
During the public forum,
community members
expressed how they felt
unsatisfied with both of the
proposed plans but helpless
to stop either.
“In terms of coming to a
community and presenting
either a 24-story tower
or a significant density
increase, it really just
comes across as a threat
that if you don’t get the
density increase you want
you’re going to build a
24-story project,” said
one resident.
The two-hour meeting
featured testimonials from
roughly a dozen other
community members
who felt like they were at
risk of being displaced
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
from Ridgewood and
were concerned that the
development would hasten
this process.
Several residents
turned the conversation
toward Reynoso.
“We keep talking about
alternatives. If this is the
best your system can get
me, I don’t want it. You’re
a council member, you
should have some type of
power to organize your
own community so we don’t
have to do the legwork,”
said a community member.
“Let’s talk about housing
cooperatives. Let’s talk
about tenant-owned
buildings where I don’t
have to worry about a
greedy landlord.”
For his part, Reynoso
took the criticism in stride.
He responded that he was
merely creating a forum
for the public to share
their thoughts publicly,
and he had not given his
support the proposal in its
current incarnation.
After the meeting,
Reynoso told QNS, “I know
Ridgewood and I know how
they organize. I didn’t have
expectations. I just wanted
the community to feel like
they had a place to express
themselves and for them to
at least see the plan.”
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