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ON THE CLOCK

Community engagement begins in earnest on redevelopment of abandoned Peninsula Hospital


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Councilman Donovan Richards (far right) offered his commentary on a slew of community issues at the session, including transportation. Also pictured are Richards’ Chief of Staff Manuel Silva (center) and former 101st Precinct Community Council Vice President Denean Ferguson. Photo by Ralph Mancini

Councilman Donovan Richards (far right) offered his commentary on a slew of community issues at the session, including transportation. Also pictured are Richards’ Chief of Staff Manuel Silva (center) and former 101st Precinct Community Council Vice President Denean Ferguson. Photo by Ralph Mancini

Given the immanency of shovels hitting the dirt on the construction of new residential and commercial structures being built on land formerly occupied by Peninsula Hospital, local community members were invited to offer input on the ambitious undertaking.

The Jan. 22 community engagement session saw residents from both sides of Rockaway convene at PS 105, where the principals of the Arker Companies and Councilman Donovan Richards presented plans to add 11 buildings — consisting of 2,200 residential units plus retail and community facilities — to provide “upward mobility” to individuals of certain income levels, along with delivering jobs.

Richards opened the dialogue by explaining that the city’s ULURP (Uniformed Land Use Procedure) process has officially begun on the construction endeavor in which Arker is offering to beautify and enhance the Arverne-based property in a way that is both resilient and sustainable.

“They’re going to go through what their proposal is going to be. I want to be clear: I have not signed on in support of this project as of yet, because there are lots of details, I believe, that need to be worked out,” conveyed the industrious lawmaker, who’s associated with multiple revitalization ventures presently in the works.

An abundant showing of community members came out to put their requests in writing. Photos by Ralph Mancini

An abundant showing of community members came out to put their requests in writing. Photos by Ralph Mancini

“Part of my process, as you know, is always engaging the community and making sure that the developers are hearing from you,” added Richards.

Picking up on that point was Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska, who urged attendees to ask questions and get involved in the city’s current evaluation of the construction development.

The ULURP process, he noted, will review zoning changes and other land-use activities, which will involve a series of public hearing sessions by CB14, the Queens Borough President, the City Planning Commission and the City Council before it’s officially certified.

“One thing that is important is engagement. I teach planning at Queens College and one of the things I tell my students is one of the most important things in planning is to keep the stakeholders involved in the project,” said the city official and adjunct professor.

A rendering provided by Aufgang Architects is a preliminary drawing of what the mixed-use development may look like in the near future.

A rendering provided by Aufgang Architects is a preliminary drawing of what the mixed-use development may look like in the near future.

“Arverne By the Sea was a great success. We had a million meetings with everyone who lived in Rockaway for over a year. You live here, your input’s important. We want you to be the stakeholders; we want you to buy in on the project.”

A brief introduction by Arker Companies owners Daniel Moritz and Alex Arker saw the former inform the listening audience on hand that his team appreciates open conversation.

Moritz went on to assure the community that his firm is committed to building “safe” homes and bringing in retailers and a variety of other facilities that would supply employment opportunities.

Visitors were invited to stop by any of five school cafeteria tables and weigh in with their thoughts and/or requests on the following topics: project identity, commercial/retail space, neighborhood needs, transportation and resiliency/sustainability.

Many of the guests congregated at the “neighborhood needs” table, where a laundry list of recommendations were written down on large white posters. These included:

More community space for small businesses

Enhanced lighting

Additional trees

Skate parks

Indoor venues for teens

Over at the commercial/retail area, people communicated their appeals for healthy shops, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Conversely, they demanded that no more liquor stores enter the community, as well as nixing Chinese restaurants, fastfood sites and beauty supply stores.

One of the more active participants during the community session was Far Rockaway Cultural Performance Arts (FRCPA) Founder Emery Jones.

When asked about his opinion on what would determine the success of the forthcoming influx of affordable, mixed-use housing, Jones didn’t hesitate to state the importance of infusing the neighborhood with more performance and training centers.

An arts pavilion similar to the Harlem-based Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, he said, would do wonders for local youth.

“If you’re going to be bringing in all of these units as far as living that means children. You need education… I’m definitely more concerned with the educational aspect because the more people come in here, you’re going to need to have schools,” maintained the community mentor, who also broached the idea of bringing a university to Rockaway.

Other concerns were forwarded by Bayswater Civic Association (BCA) board member Eugene Falik, who told The Wave about his hang-ups regarding whether St. John’s Hospital would be adequatelyequipped to furnish healthcare to both residents of this building complex in conjunction with people living in Downtown Far Rockaway.

Moreover, Falik asked what effect an estimated 20-percent population increase would have on emergency evacuation, not to mention its impacts on the NYPD and FDNY.

On the subject of transportation, the civic leader wondered if Richards’ multitude of construction projects would “overburden” the A Train.

The Councilman addressed the transportation issue while working his way around the various groups and admitted that “there are some challenges” with train and bus service. To confront the matter, Richards shared that he’s been in talks with the MTA on a few “out-of-the-box” remedies.

One of those potential solutions, he said, was the introduction of an Express A Train.

Among the western Rockawayites at the conference was Glenn DiResto. The one-time City Council candidate was leery of the density and building-size implications of the large-scale development insofar as placing 2,200 units of affordable housing on only 10 acres of land.

“This development would make the area the most densely populated portion of the Rockaway peninsula, and is in close proximity to other large developments which are on a much larger foot print,” he argued.

To that end, he brought up Arverne By the Sea as an example of a residential community that has 2,200 units of housing on 120 acres.

With regard to a large percentage of the proposed apartments falling under the designation of “affordable housing,” DiResto warned that the city should learn from its past failures and welcome a wider range of mixed income, affordability and market rate housing.

“Balancing out incomes,” he proffered would ensure that the neighborhood’s viability in terms of being the type of place people can successfully live and play in.

Both Richards and the Arker reps promised that this first community engagement event would be one of several to take place before the cavalry of cement trucks start making their way to the construction site, which could be a year or more down the road.

4 responses to “ON THE CLOCK”

  1. Elizabeth says:

    You have to be kidding me adding 2200 more homes. WE DO NOT HAVE THE INFASTRUCTURE to accommodate 22000 (8800) more people we can’t handle the people already here. Traffic is insane on rockaway beach Blvd. You can no longer turn on beach 56 street, which is so stupid. The freeway stops at 62 street going uptown but going downtown you can’t turn on the freeway from 62. The roads are all jacked up. Roxhaway is always flooding. There are no turning lights on rockaway beach Blvd which causes major traffic jams. It’s like no one cares because they don’t live here. Oh and now we will he adding beach traffic and outsiders taking over our parking spots. I would like to know who are the intelligent people who allow this to happen. Is it really all about the money and screw the residents of Rockaway? So frustrated by the greed. Stop building buildings and fix the roads. Fix the traffic. So frustrated.

  2. cephus says:

    they need to build another hospital. st johns a mess. and its a crime we have one hospital in the rockaways

  3. John says:

    Im all for development, but 2200 units is insane. The traffic in the morning is ridiculous. Its taking over 30-40 minutes to get off the peninsula. The parking is also inadequate. The A train is so crowded all ready. We need more medical facilities, stores and recreation to make rockaway better for all.

  4. Ron says:

    We need properties to can buy not rent. We need places to dine out ,places we can take our family for a day out . Movie theater new schools good retail spaces and places where kids can get off the streets after school programs that make sense. Rockaway can be a better place but we need vision . There is plenty of space let utilize it better.

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