The 1961 Zoning Resolution made a provision that community facilities could be created…
By Bob Harris
At a recent Community Board 8 meeting there were votes on two community facilities and discussion concerning the oversaturation of Briarwood with community facilities.
The 1961 Zoning Resolution made a provision that community facilities could be created as of right in residential neighborhoods. These facilities include schools, hospitals, medical facilities, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, group homes and houses of worship and their ancillary facilities.
In 1961 people went to their local facilities for service. But today the automobile and mass transportation bring people from many other neighborhoods — even from other states.
Briarwood is a community of mixed one- and two-family homes plus apartment houses. It is bound on the north by Union Turnpike, on the east by Parsons Boulevard, on the south by Hillside Avenue and on the west by Queens Boulevard and the Van Wyck Expressway.
The large boulevards are zoned for commercial property, which means big buildings. Some areas are zoned for apartment houses. This means there is very little parking although there are a number of bus and subway lines.
The June 8 CB 8 meeting had two proposed group homes on the agenda. One home was in an apartment house on Main Street. Two developmentally disabled people had been living there for nearly 10 years and have aged so they need additional support. There was no opposition to the proposal and the board voted unanimously for it.
The Briarwood Community Association reported there are six other unobtrusive group apartments in this apartment house but a list maintained by CB 8 does not include them. Many different groups operate many different community facilities.
The second proposal was for a home on 87th Avenue for five moderately mentally retarded and developmentally disabled people. Five people who own houses spoke against the proposal and there was a petition containing 64 names opposed to the group home proposal, but several CB 8 members spoke in favor of this facility.
Although some neighbors spoke about their safety concerns, CB 8 members said they had never heard of problems caused by a facility with developmentally disabled people.
The homeowners were told that a home like this is just another group integrated into a community that works during the day and is supervised at night. I found this in the West Cunningham Park Civic Association community. We did, however, have a problem from a bus driver who insisted on honking his horn in the morning but was talked to and eventually stopped.
The problem in Briarwood is that there are too many facilities in the neighborhood. The president of the Briarwood Community Association, Seymour Schwartz, pointed out that near this home is the St. Christopher Ottilie facility, which houses 61 co-ed emotionally disturbed children. The protesting homeowners did not realize that developmentally disabled young adults are not the same as emotionally disturbed children, but seeing the latter having arguments, making noise and having fights probably made them fearful of another facility.
Across the street is the Silvercrest Extended Care Facility. The problem here is that there is not enough parking in the facility so vehicles park on the street. Since this home has a common driveway, some vans or cars of the care givers will have to park on the street. Will this mean double parking all night, which might block the street to emergency vehicles, or will they pave over the grass and park there?
Around the corner is another group home for young women that has caused incidents with students from a nearby 500-student high school. All these other facilities seem to contradict the idea of putting developmentally disabled people in a home in a normal residential neighborhood where they can live unobtrusively in a non-institutionalized atmosphere.
Other schools not far away are Hillcrest and Jamaica high schools and MS 217. A little farther is PS 117 and Molloy High School. A nearby church adds to the congestion.
Speaking of houses of worship, one should remember from previous columns that the North Flushing Civic Association is being inundated with houses of worship. In about 15 years the number has grown from five to more than 40. Remember that all this is as of right because they are supposed to serve the community.
This is why the Queens Civic Congress is trying to regulate the building of community facilities in R2 residential communities.
CB 8 voted 24 in favor of the 87th Avenue facility with 11 opposed. But this vote doesn’t mean anything since the State Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities always approves group homes unless saturation can be proved. And as saturation is hard to define, these facilities are always approved.
Since CB 8 really has no voice in these matters but at least gets to learn about the placement of community facilities, a proposal will be prepared for the next board meeting to not vote on facilities in the future. Community Board 11 has adopted this policy.
Briarwood is becoming increasingly crowded because developers have built mini-unit buildings of eight apartments each. The builders are tearing down existing one-family homes to build these apartment houses but are not providing parking for 50 percent of the new units. The Department of Buildings issued a waiver to a builder to construct bigger because the lot is too small.
There are now more cars parked on the streets. The character of the community is being changed because state and city departments do not listen to the people.
Good and bad news of the week
Community facilities can be beneficial for everyone, but too many facilities, some very large, in a residential community can be bad for all.
