Community Board 7 rejected a plan by a social services developer to build two buildings on properties where single homes once existed. The rejection opens the possibility the developer to drastically alter the buildings.

Though advisory, the vote to send a letter to the city’s Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) agency represents no confidence in the building projects by Brooklyn-based CAMBA Housing Venture. Over the summer several homes were knocked down at East 202nd and East 203rd streets to make way for the projects, representing the ongoing deterioration of single-family homes in Bedford Park.

Two weeks before the vote, neighborhood residents attended CB7’s Land Use, Zoning & Housing Committee to hear the proposal. Turnout was unprecedented, with dozens of residents addressing concerns of overpopulation and more traffic congestion in a neighborhood originally built to be a northern suburb in the Bronx. Similar concerns over the project were even shared by Ted Weinstein, HPD’s Bronx Planning director.

“The community concerns were many, including that it was a large building on a very narrow street and how it would impact the services of the community,” John Snider, chair of the committee, said at the Nov. 27 general board meeting.

The properties call for the construction of two buildings–one at 257-271 E. 202nd St. and the other at 258-278 E. 203rd St.–totaling 328 units. Thirty percent, or 100 of the buildings’ units, will be set aside for homeless families and single adults.

A spokesperson for HPD told the Norwood News the project is in the early stages of development.

For its part, CAMBA will continue to keep an open ear for the neighborhood.

“CAMBA Housing Venture, Inc.’s plans in Bedford Park have not been finalized and we will continue to work with and listen to the Community Board and other stakeholders on this effort,” a CAMBA spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Norwood News.

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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.