8 OCTOBER 19, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Community Board looks to keep high-rise
buildings off of Ridgewood’s shopping strips
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Community Board 5 (CB 5) is looking
to prevent portions of Fresh
Pond Road and Myrtle Avenue
in Ridgewood from becoming the new
homes of towering buildings through
a proposed downzoning of the area.
During CB 5’s monthly meeting on
Oct. 11, at Christ the King High School in
Middle Village, Walter Sanchez, chair
of the Zoning and Land Use Committee,
presented the full board with a pair of
proposals designed to change the zoning
laws to keep future buildings within
“the character of the community,” he said.
“Right now the temperature of the
Department of City Planning is,
they’re willing to look at this,” Sanchez
added. “Ridgewood is really hot,
as you guys know, and we’re looking
for you to vote yes on changing the
zoning — downzoning — Fresh Pond
Road between Myrtle Avenue and
Metropolitan Avenue.”
The proposal looks to change the
R5B zoning along Fresh Pond Road to
an R4B zone; the R6B zone east of Fresh
Pond Road to an R5B zone; and the R5B
zoning west of Fresh Pond Road to an
R4B zone.
CB 5 is looking to rezone portions of Fresh Pond Road and Myrtle Avenue to prevent high rises coming in as of right.
“We think we’ve got a great shot at
downzoning this area,” Sanchez said.
This would not put a complete end to
developers creating larger buildings
in the area, Sanchez noted. It would
mean that a developer would need to
approach CB 5 with their request and
get a zoning variance approved before
moving forward with the project.
Vincent Arcuri, chair of CB 5, had
an issue with the language of the
committee’s proposal, noting that if a
Photo via Google Maps
catastrophic event were to hit Fresh
Pond Road — like the wildfi res spreading
across California — then, under
the proposed zoning rules, developers
could not rebuild the buildings to the
same height they are currently.
Board member Paul Kerzner, however,
said that there is an exception
to the zoning rule stating that “if you
start construction within one year
of the conflagration, you can put
back what is there, even if it is not
conforming.”
“We can’t come up with the perfect
zoning; we’re not going to be able to
do it. But if we do nothing, we’re going
to have developers come in and take
every square foot — which is fi ne, but
it’s out of character with what has been
built there,” Sanchez said. “This is our
best option … we think this is the best
way to take back Fresh Pond Road so
that this is not happening.”
Aft er a vote to table the vote on the
proposal failed to pass, the full board
voted 25-8 in favor of the Zoning and
Land Use Committee’s proposal.
The committee also proposed creating
a special purpose district on Myrtle
Avenue between Wyckoff Avenue,
Palmetto Street, Fresh Pond Road, and
the adjacent side streets. The proposed
zoning changes would interrupt the
17-story “Ridgewood Tower” planned
for 54-27 Myrtle Ave., 336 and 350 St.
Nicholas Ave., by putting a 35-foot cap
on building height within the area.
The board voted 26-7 in favor of this
proposal.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
threw her support behind the proposals
earlier in the evening.
Glendale’s 88th Street eyed for speed bumps
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
One community leader in Glendale
is hoping to slow down
speeding cars on a street
that is either used as a “speedway”
by drivers, or mired in bumperto
bumper traffi c, while Select Bus
Service (SBS) construction along
Woodhaven Boulevard continues.
Kathy Masi, president of the Glendale
Civic Association, has created a
petition on the change.org website to
garner support from other Glendale
residents, requesting speed bumps
along 88th Street.
“88th Street has become a
speedway when it is not bumperto
bumper traffi c,” Masi said in the
petition. “Early morning before 8
a.m. and aft er 7 p.m. cars race from
Cooper Avenue to Union Turnpike
and reverse.”
As of Wednesday, Oct. 18, two days
aft er Masi started the online petition,
it has 141 out of the 200 signatures
needed. Many of the signers have
been giving reasons for wanting the
speed bumps ranging from safety for
An online petition is being circulated around Glendale to bring speed
bumps to 88th Street.
residents and children — specifi cally
neat P.S./I.S. 113 — to aggressive
drivers using the residential street
as a shortcut when the main roads,
like Woodhaven Boulevard and
Union Turnpike, are riddled with
traffi c jams.
The petition will be presented
to Community Board 5’s (CB 5)
Photo via Google Maps
Trans portation and Public Transit
Committees, the New York City
Department of Transportation
(DOT), and Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley.
“Please join us in trying to get
speed bumps and possibly save a life,”
Masi urged in the petition. “Let's not
wait until there is a fatality.”
