FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
CB 7 green lights development projects in Whitestone and College Point
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Community Board 7 members on
Monday voted in approval of a two-story
warehouse building in College Point
and a commercial development rezoning
in Whitestone.
A special permit zoning resolution was
granted to modify the existing one-story
manufacture warehouse at 18-17 130 St. in
College Point with a proposed two-story
enlargement and front and side yard. Th e
building will contain 5,965.40 square feet
of fl oor area, the maximum permitted in
the M1-1 zoning district, and will provide
seven parking spaces on the ground fl oor.
“Th e main glitch is we’re in the College
Point Industrial Park and the purpose
of the park was that new developments
within the College Point Industrial Park
was supposed to have front yards and side
yards,” said Erik Palatnik, an attorney representing
the property owner. “Th ere are
no side yards if you’ve driven down 130th
Street and there are no front yards.”
Th e Board’s City Planning & Land Use
Committee met with the applicant on
Sept. 9 with a motion to approve, according
to CB 7 member Chuck Appelian.
Th e board conducted a fi nal vote Monday
night of 35 in favor to approve the project.
Another project regarding a commercial
overlay rezoning at 147-40 15th Ave.
was approved with a fi nal vote of 23-13.
Th e application would create a new
C1-2 commercial overlay (allowing for
Community Board 7 members listen to a proposed commercial development rezoning in Whitestone
at the meeting held at the Union Care Plaza Center in Flushing.
commercial buildings to be constructed
in a residential zoning) in an R3A District
aff ecting four lots on a single tax block to
facilitate legal commercial use, three of
which are not under the property owner’s
control.
Th e property was purchased in 2015
by the owners under the guidance that
it can be used as a commercial building,
which was historically used as a cabinet
factory and a daycare, according to Jay
Goldstein, an attorney representing the
property owners.
Friedhelm Morgstein, who has lived in
Whitestone since 1942 and moved into
the neighborhood in 1982, opposed the
Photo by Carlotta Mohamed
development due to additional commercial
zoning and traffi c in the area.
“Th e neighborhood was relatively quiet.
We didn’t have nearly as much commercial
business as we do now,” Morgstein
said. “Th ey have a beer garden, a restaurant
on the corner and we have a gas station
that is formally 24 hours. As a homeowner,
I’m obligated to not make noise
aft er 10 o’clock on an evening, but at the
gas station people come in and vacuum
their cars at 2 o’clock in the morning and
gas fumes coming into my home night
and day. Th e last thing we need is another
piece of commercial property in our
neighborhood.”
Meanwhile, the proposal of mega-store
and retail chain Total Wine & More in
College Point was brought before the board,
which has no authority over the approval of
the store obtaining a liquor license.
“When we do respond it’s usually aft er a
liquor license has been issued, then we get
notifi ed when someone is having issues with
the location … that’s when we can write to
the NYS Liquor Authority and say there’s
a problem,” said CB 7 Chair Eugene Kelty.
“We don’t approve any of the liquor licenses.”
Paul Lau, a lifelong Queens resident,
expressed his concern over the possible
the former site Toys ‘R’ Us site at 30-02
Whitestone Expy., in College Point.
“I’m totally against it mainly because
the area is already congested and, second,
how many more liquor stores do we need
in this area, you know? And third, it’s just
a matter of quality of life,” Lau said.
Herbert Cheng, owner of New Golden
Wine & Liquor at 41-08 Bell Blvd. in
Bayside, said their team leaders and politicians
Queens.
“A lot of the politicians didn’t know it
was Total Wine behind this because they
were using MCT Fine Wine & Spirits
on the application,” Cheng said. “We literally
owners. Th ey Total Wine & More have
almost 200 stores across the U.S. Th ey are
a national chain … Mom-and-pop stores
can’t compete at that level; it’s a diff erent
level of playing fi eld.”
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opening of Total Wine & More at
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