When members of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) held their usual, virtual, monthly meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 6, concerns were raised over the impact of New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) plans for two new housing developments at East Bedford Park Boulevard and Webster Avenue, which form part of a 2011 re-zoning plan to revitalize 88 blocks of Webster Avenue.

According to Barbara Stronczer, president of BMCA, and as reported by the Norwood News, the $93 million housing and retail project was due to incorporate 188 reduced-income apartments for seniors at 2856 Webster Avenue in 2020. This was to be followed by an additional 250 units of affordable housing for the general public which were to be built, as part of a second phase, next to the first building at 410 Bedford Park Boulevard.

The project has been delayed but the 12-story senior center is still taking priority. BMCA residents are concerned that the building did not seem to have any plans for additional parking, and they also hae reservations about the overall impact of the project on local amenities like schools, once the second building is finished.

Resident and BMCA member, Sirio Guerino, said, “We want to stop this overdevelopment. It’s going to destroy this community.” He added, “We’re going to be overburdened with people that aren’t going to have jobs, and where are they going to go? They’re going to be out in the streets.”

In February 2020, the unemployment rate in New York City stood at just 3.4 percent, and at 4.6 percent in the Bronx, according to the New York State Department of Labor. The latest available citywide unemployment rate is 11 percent as of December 2020, while in the Bronx, the rate stands at 15.1 percent, the highest in the City and State. Brooklyn is next at 11.3 percent.

Douglaston Development and Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation are partners behind the project and negotiated the housing and other services to be offered. Douglaston Development availed of the Department of City Planning (DCP)’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program, which provides zoning and financial incentives to build grocery stores in target neighborhoods.

Currently, the Cherry Valley supermarket, located at 2870 Webster Avenue, is one of the buildings at the site location which, along with some adjacent small businesses, is expected to be demolished to make way for the new 250-unit affordable housing structure.

Stronczer said that asbestos abatement was underway in relation to two small businesses located next to the supermarket. Asbestos abatement is utilized during general construction in areas containing asbestos materials, particularly when those materials are being removed, encapsulated, or repaired. Abatement is needed in order to protect construction workers and members of the general public from the many negative health impacts of asbestos.

Russell Lang, senior vice president for Douglaston Development had previously said the supermarket would stay open at its current location until the second phase of development was underway at which point it would relocate to the first floor of 410 Bedford Park Boulevard.

A 99-year lease of the one-acre site has reportedly been secured from NYBG and the developers were expected to apply for tax credits from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Involved in the early stages of the re-zoning plan discussions in 2011 were Montefiore Health System, Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo. The project later got the green light from Bronx Community Board 7 (CB 7) Housing, Land Use and Zoning committee in February 2020, in the form of a letter of non-objection on the project design.

As reported by Norwood News, during the public discussion segment of that meeting, concerns had also been raised as to how local residents would benefit from the new buildings. Local resident, Anthony Rivieccio, noted a pattern whereby new residential buildings tended to fill up with more than 50 percent of tenants from other boroughs, and less than 20 percent with locals.

Addressing John Garcia, executive director of Fordham Bedford Community Services, who was handling the lottery process, Rivieccio asked, “If this [new building] is for the community, as you indicated, is there any way within your plans jointly to be sure we get more than 20 percent?”

Garcia pointed to the group’s past work at Serviam Gardens, Serviam Heights, and Serviam Towers as an example of how the project would be inclusive of Bronxites. Norwood News reached out to Garcia to follow-up on the latest unit allocation for Bronxites. We did not receive an immediate response.

During the Jan. 6, 2021 discussion, one resident asked if there was not a requirement for the City to provide additional parking whenever new developments were planned in a specific neighborhood. In response, Stronczer said, “Well, our mayor claims that we are a sufficient distance from public transportation, subways, buses, whatever and he has a special name for that terminology, and for that reason the developers get away with [no additional] parking.”

Norwood News reached out to DCP for further comment. We were advised that as the project is in a transit-accessible area, there is no required parking for the residential units. DCP officials confirmed there would be 45 parking spaces included for the grocery store.

According to DCP, the project necessitated a detailed Environmental Impact Statement when it was first discussed in 2011. Since then, officials said the only “land use action” taken on the site has been the FRESH certification, which allowed one extra story to be built outside of the norm, and 20,000 additional square feet of surface area to facilitate the construction of the grocery store.

In terms of schools, DCP referred the Norwood News to the City Planning Commission report for the 2011 Webster Avenue rezoning plan, in which it was detailed that the School Construction Authority amended their Capital Plan in September 2010 to allocate 2,800 new school seats to Community School District 10. We reached out to the School Construction Authority to ask if those additional seats have materialized in the meantime. We did not receive an immediate response.

DCP officials added that the required environmental review of the 2011 plan only found adverse impacts on “transportation” by which it appears to mean road traffic. It identified two intersections, Webster Avenue and Bedford Park Boulevard, and Webster Avenue and East Fordham Road, with five lane groups which would be significantly impacted during peak traffic hours.

Mitigation measures for the former encompassed, among others, prohibiting parking on the south side of Bedford Park Boulevard for a distance of 150 feet west of Webster Avenue and restriping for three lanes – a Select Bus Service only lane that also allows right turns for vehicles, a through lane and a left turn lane.

Mitigation measures for the latter included, but were not limited to, prohibiting parking on the west side of Webster Avenue for a distance of 150 feet north of East Fordham Road and restriping the approach for an exclusive right turn lane, plus two through lanes, and an exclusive left turn lane.

Stronczer told members she had invited Aaron Bouska, the vice president for community affairs and intergovernmental relations at NYBG, to the next meeting. “I asked him to give us an update on some programs at the garden, and also on the construction on Webster Avenue,” she said.

In February 2020, Bouska told the Norwood News that the housing project fit a community need. However, circumstances have clearly changed since then. Some attendees at the January 2021 meeting agreed that with alternate side parking suspended to just one day a week currently, drivers across the district are leaving their vehicles illegally blocking crosswalks, fire hydrants and access ramps used by people with disabilities, and seniors using walkers or canes.

Representing the NYPD at the meeting was 52nd Precinct Community Affairs officer, Stephen Echevarria, who suggested residents take a photograph of any illegally parked vehicles and send it to the 311 service.

Another topic discussed during the meeting was the continuing glue attacks of area mailboxes. Members reported that the mailbox outside the Botanical Square Post Office on Webster Avenue was recently hit, and a second mailbox at East 201st Street and Perry Avenue was also glued shut and had to be replaced.

On Wednesday, Feb 3, the website, YIMBY, announced that permits had been filed for a ten-story residential building at 383 East 201st Street, also in Bedford Park. Located between Decatur Avenue and Botanical Square North, the through lot is also addressed as 390 East Mosholu Parkway South and Astrit Ulaj, under the name 390 Mosholu LLC, is listed as the owner behind the applications.

According to YIMBY, the proposed 110-foot-tall development will yield 46,726 square feet, with 38,051 square feet designated for residential space. The building will have 52 residences, most likely rentals, based on the average unit scope of 731 square feet. The steel-based structure will also have a cellar and a 36-foot-long rear yard. It was also reported that the development will require a partial demolition, though demolition permits have not yet been filed, and estimated project completion date has not been announced.

BMCA held its latest meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 3. Bouska did not attend finally but committed to attending the next meeting instead. Visit BMCA’s Facebook page or email bedfordmosholu@verizon.net for details of future meetings and other information.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.