Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7)’s Housing, Land Use, and Economic Development Committee have said “yes,” to plans to support the City’s proposal to make outdoor dining permanent, but some residents are wary the move may exacerbate already, unwanted noise levels late at night. The board also gave its support to a new housing development at 3118 Webster Avenue in Norwood, despite some residents’ misgivings over the trajectory of quality-of-life in the area.

 

At the board’s housing committee meeting, held on Sept. 14, the first such committee meeting to take place since breaking for the summer, a quality-of-life discussion unfolded in response to the City’s department of transportation (DOT) introducing a proposal to make outdoor dining a permanent fixture of NYC sidewalks and roadways. The proposal includes a zoning text amendment that requires a letter of support from CB7’s housing committee.

 

In March 2020, amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants across the five boroughs were forced to halt indoor dining to help slow the rapid spread of COVID-19. As a result, according to DOT officials, 64 percent of restaurant employees lost their jobs, while hundreds of the City’s 27,000 eateries were forced to close permanently.

 

To boost the City’s flailing restaurant industry, on June 18, 2020, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio signed Emergency Executive Order No. 126, lifting long-standing zoning requirements that prevented many restaurants from adding an outdoor dining option, during pre-COVID times.

 

Today, approximately 11,000 eateries are participating in the emergency open restaurants program across the five boroughs providing a much-needed boost to the industry.

 

Darisa Cruz from the Bronx borough commissioner’s office was supportive of the initiative, saying, “This program has been a lifesaver, not just to the restaurant industry but also to the City that has seen the incredible vitality outdoor dining can bring to our sidewalks and streets.” She added, “It’s a beacon of hope and innovation in a dark time. It’s a sign that our city can imagine a better future.”

 

In general, CB7 members said they wanted to see local restaurants flourish. However, some feared that if made permanent, outdoor dining could herald an unwanted nightlife culture into residential areas, at the expense of the existing community. Noise, safety, and sanitation were among the community’s top concerns. Noise complaints recorded on the City’s 311 system amount to some 51,000 across all five boroughs since Jan. 1, 2021.

 

“We’ve definitely dealt with so many quality-of-life issues during the pandemic,” said one resident, who preferred not to disclose her name. “One of the restaurants on my street has already, a few times this summer, pulled out chairs and tables on the sidewalk and people just hang out all day. It becomes very noisy.”

 

“We have to have a balance,” added housing committee member, Myrna Calderon. “Otherwise, you’re going to have the working-class people just leaving the City because the noise is already unbearable. You can’t just blanket… open up the neighborhood and say anybody can have a sidewalk café.”

 

Ben Huff, a senior transportation project manager with New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), said that although the permanent outdoor dining program would open up areas once geographically restricted by zoning mandates, restaurants would still need community board support and would need to meet minimum footpath requirements and other seating criteria. Additionally, permanent sidewalk cafés would be subject to annual inspections.

 

“So, it won’t be easy for restaurants to have a sidewalk café in the permanent program,” Huff said. “Restaurant owners will have to provide proof that they’re meeting all the requirements.”

 

Still, while many community members resisted DOT’s open restaurant proposal, CB7 housing committee member and vice-president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Sandra Erickson, voiced her support for the plan and encouraged the community to do the same.

 

“I see our restaurants have really thrived by this addition and it makes the neighborhood more vibrant to have people outside,” said Erickson. “The restaurants will still have to come to the community board [to present their case] so, I think it really is important that the committee is supportive of this. It’s the right thing to do.”

 

Meanwhile, Erick Ascensio, the housing committee’s newly appointed chair said, “I know we all want to see better restaurants in our neighborhood.” He added, “I personally don’t want to go into Manhattan every time I want to sit outside, so I welcome this change to the committee.”

 

With a three-vote majority, including one “no” vote, and one abstention, the housing committee passed the motion to provide DOT with a letter of support approving the proposed open restaurant zoning text amendment.

 

The vote is the first of three legislative phases that needed to be completed to bring the permanent open restaurant plan to life in the City’s five boroughs. DOT officials estimate that the project will be finalized sometime in late 2022 or early 2023. Until then, the current emergency plan will continue to allow restaurants to keep their outdoor dining spaces open until, at least, winter 2022. The City is also pursuing a strategy for roadway dining which will be presented to the housing committee at a later date.

 

Meanwhile, Norwood News has learned, based on the minutes of the Sept. 2 Land Use committee meeting of Bronx Community Board 8, that the committee “determined by overwhelming majority vote of its members that the [similarly] proposed DCP zoning text change [in respect of outdoor dining] should be rejected as premature and open to more questions and concerns than it usefully addresses” in its current form.

 

Meanwhile, Matthew Gross, co-owner of Urban Builders Collaborative (UBC), an affiliate of Lettire Construction, which is behind the new housing project at 3118 Webster Avenue, presented updated plans for the proposed, mixed-income housing development.

 

UBC’s initial proposal had set aside 15 percent of the building’s apartments for “special needs populations”. However, to qualify for a 9 percent, low-income housing tax credit under the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) of the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), UBC must increase its available stock of affordable housing units to 35 percent.

 

When completed, 3118 Webster Avenue will offer a total of 99 residential units, consisting of 21 studio apartments, 26 one-bedroom units, 41 two-bedroom units, 10 three-bedroom units, and one two-bedroom unit set aside for a superintendent, as mandated by HPD guidelines.

 

Pending QAP approval, 35 percent of units will then be allocated to special needs populations, and the remainder will be reserved for workforce and middle-income household applicants. Special needs groups include, but are not limited to, homeless persons and families, people with mental and physical disabilities, persons with AIDS, persons with substance abuse disorders, and survivors of domestic violence and their families who need access to affordable housing and on-site financial and mental health services that support rehabilitation.

 

According to HPD representatives, QAP-approved projects must provide evidence of adequate provision of such support services for the intended population by including a letter of interest from a social service agency e.g. the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), the Office of Mental Health (OMH), the Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities (OMRDD), the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) or the Department of Homeless Services (DHS).

 

The letter should state that the agency in question has reviewed the project and determined that the individual applicants will be eligible for operating subsidies and/or supportive housing services through the agency.

 

Norwood News reached out to HPD to ask if applications for units at the location would be made via NYC Housing Connect, HPD’s proprietary platform which helps New Yorkers search for affordable housing. We were advised that, last year, UBC applied for the 9 percent tax credit but was not awarded it. The HPD representative said that this was not unusual as HPD had about $38 million in credit requests and only $14 million available to award to applicants.

 

The HPD representative added that the Webster Avenue project was in the early stages of financing and had not yet reached the point where it would be marketed through NYC Housing Connect. 

 

Similar to the permanent outdoor dining discussion, while members of CB7’s housing committee generally supported the initiative, they questioned how the special needs population at 3118 Webster Avenue will be defined, and whether the existing community’s concerns over quality-of-life will be given priority consideration.

 

“To be clear, everybody needs housing, and we want to accommodate,” said Ischia Bravo, CB7’s district manager. “We just want to make sure that it’s not at the cost of everyone else’s quality of life. This is not our first rodeo.”

 

As Norwood News reported in 2010, there’s been a decades-long effort by the DCP to up-zone Webster Avenue in Norwood and Bedford Park from an industrial corridor to an area more conducive to residential and commercial development, including retail stores and restaurants.

 

But over the years, these changes have generated an influx of affordable housing developments that Calderon said overwhelms the neighborhood with people who struggle with severe, psychiatric and drug issues that put the larger community’s safety at risk.

 

“Instead of the formerly incarcerated [people], I think people with disabilities also need to be looked at [as potential residents],” said Calderon. “They need housing too, and a lot of times they’re ignored, but they’re actually an asset to your building population. So, I think this might be a way to add something positive to the community that’s not negative.”

 

Gross said his organization bought the Webster Avenue property, envisioning a mix and match workforce, with a very small amount of housing set aside for special needs populations. “And, you know, the City is sort of forcing their agenda,” he said.

 

According to the Office of the City Register, a number of entities are listed as being in some way affiliated with the address location, which is divided into lots. HP Webster 204 Housing Development Fund Co, Inc. is listed as the owner of Block 3357, Lot 7 on one City map. Other affiliated parties include UB Webster Avenue MM LLC and Raza Development Fund, Inc.

 

Meanwhile, OSA Webster Realty Inc. is listed as a business entity which was licensed with NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to operate a parking lot at the location. However, that license expired on March 31, 2019.

 

UBC  Webster Avenue MM LLC is listed on the Department of Building (DOB)’s website as the applicant which filed a demolition request for a single story building at the address, also in 2019, and is listed as a manager.

 

When asked about the ownership structure, Gross reconfirmed ownership by UBC but said there were “nonprofits” which were also involved in the project.

 

Gross assured the housing committee that, going forward, UBC would partner with nonprofits to help identify populations that could contribute positively to the neighborhood’s growth. He said, as the project evolves, UBC will provide the community board with updates in this regard.

 

“We’re looking to figure out who the best partner is,” Gross continued. “But formerly homeless is definitely going to have to be one of the criteria. It may be formerly homeless with other populations we work with, such as domestic violence victims who have disabilities, but it will be a type of population that we feel would be easily ‘integratable’.”

 

The next Bronx CB7 Housing, Land Use, and Economic Development Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m.

 

Norwood News recently reported on the efforts being taken to reduce noise caused by dirt bikes in the area.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.