sfenn1117
July 26th, 2007, 05:44 PM
Neighbors to Synagogue: Enough With the High-Rise
by Mark Wellborn (http://www.nyobserver.com/node/36916) Published: July 24, 2007 Tags: Real Estate (http://www.nyobserver.com/realestate)
This article was published in the July 30, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.
Last Wednesday, the Community Board 8 meeting at the Ramaz School on the Upper East Side was peculiarly packed. “These meetings are not usually this crowded,” a representative from Hunter College told The Observer.
While two extra rows of seats were being added for those standing in the back of the room, a woman jokingly attributed the meeting’s popularity to the presence of neighborhood resident and Today Show host Matt Lauer, who sat quietly off to the side.
Most people were there in opposition to the glut of development that the ever-tonier ZIP code is currently experiencing. Although debate about a proposed catering hall at 583 Park Avenue dominated much of the public session, another issue was discussed, albeit briefly, that was particularly appropriate for the venue.
The boards of trustees at the Ramaz Lower School and at Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue recently presented a plan that calls for the construction of a high-rise at 125 East 85th Street. The synagogue has been associated with the school since it established Ramaz in 1937.
The high-rise would replace the existing structures with a 28-story building containing a new lower school, a synagogue house and 18 floors of residential condominiums on top. The condos will be sold as private homes, and the proceeds from the development will be used to pay for the new school and the new synagogue house, according to the project’s attorney Shelly Friedman. Mr. Friedman explained that additional fund-raising will still be needed in order to completely fund both. “There is not going to be any loose change around to pocket,” he said.
The total preliminary development cost is $80 million, which includes restoration of the synagogue, demolition and relocation of the lower school, and construction of the new building. The synagogue’s summer bulletin stated that demolition is scheduled for June 2008, and construction is expected to take two years.
That timeline’s quite optimistic considering the fierce opposition to the plan.
“The amount of noncompliance in terms of square feet with this project is enormous,” Lo van der Valk of Upper East Side community group Carnegie Hill Neighbors told The Observer. “The building is in a zoning section that allows a maximum property height of 210 feet. The proposed building would be 355 feet. Of the 18 residential stories, 13 break the envelope significantly.”
Because the building would exceed the zoning requirements, the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals must grant variances for the plan to move forward. While that term usually conjures memories of a hated math class in college, in this context, a variance is the approval needed so that a development can legally go over zoning regulations.
While zoning issues were at the forefront of many fights that Mr. van der Valk was involved in during the 1980’s with Carnegie Hill Neighbors, the synagogue’s development is especially worrisome because of the precedent it could set in a city where every nook and cranny is becoming fair game for development.
“Experience shows that nonprofits are generally given better treatment for getting variances,” Mr. van der Valk explained. “If they get approval to build this tower, then every nonprofit in the city will think it can get approved for similar projects.”
Zoning isn’t the only issue with the project that irks the neighborhood.
The timing of the application’s submission to the community board seemed suspicious to a number of people. One neighbor at the July 11 meeting, where the application was presented, said the general feeling was the synagogue did it then so that the board wouldn’t have time to review it before it went to the Board of Standards and Appeals.
“The community board turned down the application, not for cause, but because they didn’t have time to review it,” a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said. “Now it goes to the B.S.A. in a better light because even though the ruling was negative, it hinged on lack of time, rather than the variances.”
This is not the first time that an uptown synagogue has been embroiled in a development controversy.
In 2005, the Upper West Side synagogue Congregation Shearith Israel presented plans to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build five floors of luxury condos atop a new community house at 8 West 70th Street.
Objections to the project were immediately raised by Landmark West, an Upper West Side community group, which took issue with what it said was Shearith’s complete disregard of neighborhood zoning laws.
According to Landmark West executive director Kate Wood, the Landmarks Commission told Shearith Israel that because there was no preservation purpose to their project, it did not merit special permits for construction.
“Now, as an alternative, they are taking the design to the Board of Standards and Appeals in hopes of getting variances to begin construction,” Ms. Wood said recently. “The thing is that they could easily build a building within current zoning restrictions, but the residential component is a moneymaker.”
Mr. Friedman, who also represents Shearith Israel, told The Observer that the idea of a nonprofit getting involved in a development project on its land is not a new concept.
“If this was a nonprofit going out and buying the property next door and selling the air rights, that would be one thing,” Mr. Friedman said. “But in both cases, they are simply building on the property that they have owned for years.”
Mr. Friedman further explained that neither of these institutions will make any money off the developments. Rather, the revenue will be put back into the building and preservation of new projects for both. He did say that most of the additional residential floors for the Ramaz School do fall out of the area’s zoning restrictions.
“If the Board of Standards and Appeals approves the variances, that does give you a taller building than zoning permits,” Mr. Friedman said. “But if you look around the area, there are an equal number of buildings that are as tall.”
As far as the timing of the application submission, Mr. Friedman denies that it was surreptitiously snuck in.
“I understand where that idea comes from, but it’s not true,” Mr. Friedman said. “We could’ve forced the issue and submitted in June, but we decided to wait until we were ready in July.”
Mr. van der Valk believes that Mr. Friedman is diverting the public’s attention from the main issue. “Shelly Friedman has already won one battle because he is getting people to focus on issues that are beside the point,” he said. “The main issue here is really the zoning infractions.”
Though the men are friends, Mr. Friedman’s reply to Mr. van der Valk’s comment was both lawyerly and diplomatic: “I think my friend Lo is a little bit out of his element here. People are going to be happy with what is built on 85th Street.”
http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/neighbors-synagogue-enough-high-rise
by Mark Wellborn (http://www.nyobserver.com/node/36916) Published: July 24, 2007 Tags: Real Estate (http://www.nyobserver.com/realestate)
This article was published in the July 30, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.
Last Wednesday, the Community Board 8 meeting at the Ramaz School on the Upper East Side was peculiarly packed. “These meetings are not usually this crowded,” a representative from Hunter College told The Observer.
While two extra rows of seats were being added for those standing in the back of the room, a woman jokingly attributed the meeting’s popularity to the presence of neighborhood resident and Today Show host Matt Lauer, who sat quietly off to the side.
Most people were there in opposition to the glut of development that the ever-tonier ZIP code is currently experiencing. Although debate about a proposed catering hall at 583 Park Avenue dominated much of the public session, another issue was discussed, albeit briefly, that was particularly appropriate for the venue.
The boards of trustees at the Ramaz Lower School and at Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue recently presented a plan that calls for the construction of a high-rise at 125 East 85th Street. The synagogue has been associated with the school since it established Ramaz in 1937.
The high-rise would replace the existing structures with a 28-story building containing a new lower school, a synagogue house and 18 floors of residential condominiums on top. The condos will be sold as private homes, and the proceeds from the development will be used to pay for the new school and the new synagogue house, according to the project’s attorney Shelly Friedman. Mr. Friedman explained that additional fund-raising will still be needed in order to completely fund both. “There is not going to be any loose change around to pocket,” he said.
The total preliminary development cost is $80 million, which includes restoration of the synagogue, demolition and relocation of the lower school, and construction of the new building. The synagogue’s summer bulletin stated that demolition is scheduled for June 2008, and construction is expected to take two years.
That timeline’s quite optimistic considering the fierce opposition to the plan.
“The amount of noncompliance in terms of square feet with this project is enormous,” Lo van der Valk of Upper East Side community group Carnegie Hill Neighbors told The Observer. “The building is in a zoning section that allows a maximum property height of 210 feet. The proposed building would be 355 feet. Of the 18 residential stories, 13 break the envelope significantly.”
Because the building would exceed the zoning requirements, the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals must grant variances for the plan to move forward. While that term usually conjures memories of a hated math class in college, in this context, a variance is the approval needed so that a development can legally go over zoning regulations.
While zoning issues were at the forefront of many fights that Mr. van der Valk was involved in during the 1980’s with Carnegie Hill Neighbors, the synagogue’s development is especially worrisome because of the precedent it could set in a city where every nook and cranny is becoming fair game for development.
“Experience shows that nonprofits are generally given better treatment for getting variances,” Mr. van der Valk explained. “If they get approval to build this tower, then every nonprofit in the city will think it can get approved for similar projects.”
Zoning isn’t the only issue with the project that irks the neighborhood.
The timing of the application’s submission to the community board seemed suspicious to a number of people. One neighbor at the July 11 meeting, where the application was presented, said the general feeling was the synagogue did it then so that the board wouldn’t have time to review it before it went to the Board of Standards and Appeals.
“The community board turned down the application, not for cause, but because they didn’t have time to review it,” a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said. “Now it goes to the B.S.A. in a better light because even though the ruling was negative, it hinged on lack of time, rather than the variances.”
This is not the first time that an uptown synagogue has been embroiled in a development controversy.
In 2005, the Upper West Side synagogue Congregation Shearith Israel presented plans to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build five floors of luxury condos atop a new community house at 8 West 70th Street.
Objections to the project were immediately raised by Landmark West, an Upper West Side community group, which took issue with what it said was Shearith’s complete disregard of neighborhood zoning laws.
According to Landmark West executive director Kate Wood, the Landmarks Commission told Shearith Israel that because there was no preservation purpose to their project, it did not merit special permits for construction.
“Now, as an alternative, they are taking the design to the Board of Standards and Appeals in hopes of getting variances to begin construction,” Ms. Wood said recently. “The thing is that they could easily build a building within current zoning restrictions, but the residential component is a moneymaker.”
Mr. Friedman, who also represents Shearith Israel, told The Observer that the idea of a nonprofit getting involved in a development project on its land is not a new concept.
“If this was a nonprofit going out and buying the property next door and selling the air rights, that would be one thing,” Mr. Friedman said. “But in both cases, they are simply building on the property that they have owned for years.”
Mr. Friedman further explained that neither of these institutions will make any money off the developments. Rather, the revenue will be put back into the building and preservation of new projects for both. He did say that most of the additional residential floors for the Ramaz School do fall out of the area’s zoning restrictions.
“If the Board of Standards and Appeals approves the variances, that does give you a taller building than zoning permits,” Mr. Friedman said. “But if you look around the area, there are an equal number of buildings that are as tall.”
As far as the timing of the application submission, Mr. Friedman denies that it was surreptitiously snuck in.
“I understand where that idea comes from, but it’s not true,” Mr. Friedman said. “We could’ve forced the issue and submitted in June, but we decided to wait until we were ready in July.”
Mr. van der Valk believes that Mr. Friedman is diverting the public’s attention from the main issue. “Shelly Friedman has already won one battle because he is getting people to focus on issues that are beside the point,” he said. “The main issue here is really the zoning infractions.”
Though the men are friends, Mr. Friedman’s reply to Mr. van der Valk’s comment was both lawyerly and diplomatic: “I think my friend Lo is a little bit out of his element here. People are going to be happy with what is built on 85th Street.”
http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/neighbors-synagogue-enough-high-rise