STATEMENT BY SENATOR GOLDEN ON COMMUNITY BOARD 10 ZONING PROPOSAL ZR 73-622

Community Board 10 has raised some very serious concerns about the ZR Section 73-622. It is the Board’s feeling that the Special Permit provision’s use has deviated from the original intent: rather than allowing families to make modest expansions to their homes, the Board has concluded that the applications in this district have not been consistent with the intent.

The Board’s findings merit serious discussion. Unfortunately, scheduling this public hearing for June means that many area residents will probably not be able to attend, express their opinions, or even be aware of this proposal, since this is a time of the year when many in our community are busy with end of school activities or planning for the summer.

An ideal scenario would have been for the Board to make this proposal public now; allow for discussion throughout the summer, and then hold this hearing in the fall. However, this cannot take place since the Board has already made application to the Board of Standards and Appeals, which starts the period for consideration.

Given this circumstance, I would ask that the Community Board recommend that there be an allowance for applications before the BSA prior to the implementation of this change. This would give those homeowners who were not aware of the special permit process one last opportunity to expand their homes in order to remain in the community.