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RT04062017

8 APRIL 6, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM Fight against proposed 17-story ‘Ridgewood Tower’ development gets lawmaker’s support BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM @A_GIUDICEREPORT The proposed 17-story, mixeduse tower planned for Ridgewood has just found a new adversary: Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan. Nolan has been known to fi ght out-of-character buildings coming to her district, such as the planned conversion of an electrician’s offi ce into a fi ve-story apartment building in Ridgewood, and she is now taking aim at the “Ridgewood Tower.” In a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Nolan stated her opposition to large-scale developments such as the “Ridgewood Tower” claiming this new building — to be located at 54-27 Myrtle Ave., 336 and 350 St. Nicholas Ave. — would be “vastly oversized and extremely out of character” for that area of Ridgewood. “These types of projects have the ability to single-handedly transform our neighborhoods and should be thoroughly vetted by our community board, neighborhood civic groups, tenant associations, and everyday residents in the area,” she wrote in the March 29 letter. “Once completed, this development will have a profound eff ect on infrastructure, schools, price of rental units and has the ability to negatively aff ect the quality of life of our existing and potential new residents of Ridgewood and the surrounding area.” The assemblywoman urged de Blasio, his administration, and the New York City Department of City Planning to work with Community Board 5 (CB 5) to create a better zoning plan so that large developments cannot be built “as of right” in that section of Ridgewood. Rendering courtesy of AB Capstone Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan has expressed her opposition to the 17-story, mixed-use development billed as “Ridgewood Tower.” Plans for the “Ridgewood Tower” show the site will have 129 luxury apartments consisting of 39 studio apartments, 51 one-bedroom apartments, 27 two-bedroom apartments, and 12 three-bedroom apartments, with 350 parking spaces, and commercial/retail space. Nolan also noted in her letter to the mayor that she stands with the Ridgewood Tenants Union in their mission to ensure that rental units at the tower are truly aff ordable, and that local businesses have an equal chance at the planned commercial space. The currently empty lots that will become the “Ridgewood Tower” are on the market for just under $35 million. Parking changes eyed near Juniper Valley Park BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM @A_GIUDICEREPORT Changes to parking and traffi c rules may be on the way to the streets around Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village. Two requests for traffic signage changes were presented to Community Board 5’s (CB 5) Transportation and Public Transit Committees during their joint March meeting that would bring back parking to the residential side of Juniper Boulevard North, and convert a stretch of 62nd Avenue from a two-way street to a one-way street. The demand for parking across the CB 5 area is always high, and the area around Juniper Valley Park is no diff erent. According to Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA), overnight parking was eliminated along Juniper Boulevard North decades ago when residents around the park complained that people were hanging around the park in their cars at all hours of the night, causing problems for those who lived directly across the street. To address that problem, “No Standing” signs were placed along Juniper Boulevard North that prevented overnight parking from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. “That was done in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s because would hang out in cars and drink and make noise all night,” Holden said of the “No Standing” signs. “The police said we can stop them from drinking, but we can’t force them to leave the area of the park legally. The only way would be no standing signs. And that solved the problem.” Now, residents are looking to bring overnight parking exclusively to the north side of Juniper Boulevard North. During the meeting, the CB 5 committees agreed to reach out to the JPCA for their opinion on the change. “We’ve got to do a study on this, poll our members over there to see if they want this,” Holden said. “So in the next few weeks we are going to do that. We’ll listen to what everyone says and look at it during our April 27 meeting.” A second request was made to change 62nd Avenue between 80th Street and Juniper Boulevard North/77th Street from a two-way street to a one-way street westbound, due to concerns over accidents along the roadway. According to the CB 5 committees, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved this request and are looking to the board for approval to officially come and make the change. “I personally wouldn’t have a problem with that one-way westbound,” Holden said. “I think one-way streets make it safer. It’s not going to stop the accidents, but hopefully it could help the situation.” Both topics will be brought at the April 27 JPCA meeting at Our Lady of Hope School in Middle Village. Photo via Google Maps


RT04062017
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