Public Meeting Wed., Aug. 19 at 7 PM at Amsterdam / 103rd St. on Jewish Home Land Swap

Save the dates:

• Wednesday, August 19th at 7 PM at the AYH Hostel, Amsterdam Ave. & 103rd St. - Community Meeting on the Jewish Home / Chetrit land swap and zoning issues
• Tuesday, September 8th at 6:30 PM at the Jewish Home, 120 W. 106th St. - Community Board 7 meeting on the same issues.
  

Report of August 15, 2009 Press Conference

At today's press conference, a crowd of about 40 people listened to

• Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito
• State Senator Bill Perkins
• State Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell
• Council Member Inez Dickens
• Community Board Chairperson Helen Rosenthal
• Glory Ann Kerstein, Co-Coordinator/Manhattan Valley Preservation Coalition and President of the Duke Ellington Boulevard Neighborhood Assoc. and
• Miki Fiegel of Westsiders for Responsible Development

talk about the history and the current situation regarding the Jewish Home & Hospital's plan to swap its 106th St. property for a plot in a parking lot at Park West Village on 100th St.

THE HISTORY AS THE SPEAKERS PRESENTED IT:

Jewish Home & Hospital (JHH) waited until the end of the 2-year rezoning process for this district, to skip the Community Board and go directly to the City Council to ask for a variance from the zoning rules. This variance would permit it to create an upscale apartment building whose income would subsidize a new state-of-the-art nursing home, while theoretically not impinging too much on the neighbors behind on 105th Street. (No affordable housing was included.)

Members of the community negotiated with JHH and the result was a memorandum of understanding with binding arbitration in case of dispute. The City Council granted the variance, but the terms of the memorandum of understanding were apparently never actually incorporated into the deed.

JHH is now making a deal with the Chetrit Group to swap land: JHH gets the parking lot behind 792 Columbus Ave. (99th - 100th Street between Columbus & Amsterdam) for its 22-story facility, while Chetrit would get the better part of the block where the nursing home now stands (120 W. 106th Street between Columbus & Amsterdam).

THE ISSUES NOW:

1. Whether Chetrit can lay claim to the variance that JHH obtained from the City Council, and thus build a residential building higher than the 12-15 stories permitted under the new zoning. (Floor-to-area ratio zoning requirements would mean that a very tall building would be narrow, while a shorter building could be wider.)

City Council Members Mark-Viverito and Dickens said they would fight letting the for-profit Chetrit group use the variance. Ms. Dickens pointed out that the real need is for affordable housing. While the group cheered for this important goal, it's not clear how it can be accomplished in this development.

State representatives O'Donnell and Perkins said they would see if there was some way for the state to play a role here. (Manhattan Borough President Stringer was invited but out of town.)

Glory Ann Kerstein and Miki Feigel noted a history of unreliability of JHH's promises and Miki suggested that a BINDING statement that JHH would ensure the lower height of the proposed 106th Street building would be a beginning. Helen Rosenthal and others who spoke out were concerned about enforcing Chetrit's promise to replace 3 trailers behind P.S. 163 on West 97th St. with an actual building - among other promises. [See Helen's statement below.]

In a response e-mailed to Council Member Mark-Viverito, Jewish Home claimed it was all for the best. Click here to read the Statement of Jewish Home written by hired lobbyist Ethan M. Geto.

2. Whether the Chetrit/Gluck (Stellar Management) group will uphold its promise of open space for the mainly-rent-stabilized residents of 792 and 788 Columbus Avenue in what that group calls the "former Park West Village." Other promises remain in abeyance.

Statement of Helen Rosenthal, Chairperson, Community Board 7 :

Community Board 7 urges both developers to keep the needs of the community in mind as they move forward on their projects. In particular we urge Chetrit to be mindful of the height restrictions on 106th Street of roughly 12-15 stories negotiated in good faith between JHH, their neighbors and Community Board 7.

On behalf of the community, we are also looking to Chetrit to follow through on his commitment to build additional classroom space at PS 163.

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TAKE ACTION:

1. Come to a community meeting on Wed., Aug. 19th at 7 PM (location to be announced).

2. Come to a Community Board meeting on Tues., Sept. 8th at the Jewish Home, 120 W. 106th St. at 6:30 PM.