By DAVID CRUZ 

Councilman Fernando Cabrera, under a provision in a community benefits agreement between community leaders and developers of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC) at the Kingsbridge Armory, has chosen members to join a panel overseeing the CBA’s execution.

Cabrera, as the current representative in the 14th Council District covering Kingsbridge, appointed Barry P. Fitzgerald, Maria M. Khury and Gregoria Feliciano to the Community Advisory Panel, tasked to ensure the legally binding CBA is followed while also advising how 50,000-square-feet of community space will be managed inside the Armory.

A press released by Cabrera’s office said, “All three appointees are dedicated community leaders.” Two are also entrenched in the world of business. “We think these people have tremendous skills,” said a spokesman for Cabrera. “These are people who understand how this is going to work.”

Fitzgerald, who has a contracting and insurance business background, has served on boards that included Visions Inc. and the Bronx Rotary Club. He’s a member of the Board of Directors of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. He is an honorary lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus.

Khury serves as the Development Chair of the National Dominican Day Parade, Inc. She is CEO & President of Khury Tours and Travel, Inc., the Principal Partner of Elite Deco Eco , a licensed insurance broker and a business consultant. She was the first woman and Dominican ever elected President of the Association of Latin-American Travel Agents, the first Latina to sit in the Airline Reporting Corporation Council, and the first Hispanic Vice-Chair of Bronx Community Board 8.

Feliciano serves as the Community School Site Director for The Children’s Aid Society, a founding member and trustee of the Roslyn Yalow Charter School, a Borough Advisory Board member for Visions, Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors on the Riverdale Cooperative. Feliciano started her career at The Mott Haven Head Start before directing youth programs through the “I Have a Dream” Foundation. She served as vice president of the Dominican Women’s Caucus of NYC and was the first Dominican woman to hold the position of District Manager for Community Board 12 in Washington Heights/Inwood, a 10-minute drive from the Kingsbridge community.

The three members have ties to the Kingsbridge/Riverdale community, and  two are more firmly tied to Community Board 8. Their membership seems to balance out a CAC roster that includes Paul Foster, William Francis, Lowell Green, and Bishop Fernando Rodriguez, who were appointed by Community Board 7 two years ago. Foster, Francis and Green are currently Community Board 7 members.

Membership has now reached seven. Representatives for the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), under the terms laid out in the CBA, will now get their chance to appoint three members to the panel. KNIC developers will have one non-voting member on the panel. The CBA states that CAC members will serve a period of four years, and can be removed by the person or group that appointed them.

But details remain murky over how frequent the CAC will meet, whether it will gather publicly and who will oversee the finances attached to the CBA, which is 1.5 percent of the ice center’s revenue. Project revenue included in the CBA can reach upwards to $1.7 billion throughout the course of KNIC’s 99-year lease. KNIC’s CEO, Mark Messier, recently told an audience that the project will be guided by the principles of the CBA.

Stipulations in the CBA include free ice time for neighborhood kids, a $10 living wage and a hiring clause mandating at least 51 percent of employees are from the Bronx.