Vote on Queens affordable housing plan delayed
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A proposed eight-story affordable housing project in Edgemere was supposed to be voted on by the City Council on Tuesday. It was delayed after the local councilmember expressed opposition to the project. Rendering via Urban Architectural Initiatives
By Ryan Schwach
A scheduled vote on a proposal to build an affordable housing development in the Edgemere section of the Rockaway peninsula was delayed by the City Council on Tuesday after the plan received pushback from the local councilmember.
The project, an eight-story building planned for 29-32 Beach Channel Dr., backed by non-profit developers Community Builders, would bring 106-unit affordable units to the geographically central section of the Rockaways. But City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, who serves as the majority whip in the legislative body, has said she’s opposed to the development – a sentiment backed by the local community board.
Brooks-Powers has cited publically that she would prefer the site be used for home ownership, and has said her district, specifically the Edgemere community, has done its fair share in assisting the city in addressing its housing crisis.
“While New York City has a housing crisis, Rockaway cannot be the only answer to that crisis,” she said at a hearing on June 28.
Amid the councilmember’s concerns, a vote on the project, which was scheduled for Tuesday and was the only item on the docket for the Council’s Zoning Committee, was postponed.
Representatives from Brooks-Powers office said the vote would be moved to Thursday, but did not give a reason. The deadline to hold a vote on the project, as required by the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, is Aug. 9.
Brooks-Powers herself did not respond to requests for comment.
The developers behind the housing proposal declined to comment when reached by the Eagle on Tuesday.
On March 14, Community Board 14, which encompasses all the Rockaways, rejected the request for the zoning change with a 19 to two vote, according to New York City Planning documents.
They said the size of the building and the number of tenants it would house would clash with the existing homes in the neighborhood.
“The project at eight-stories is not in context with the surrounding one to two family homes,” the board said in its recommendation. “Only two six-story buildings are present in the surrounding neighborhood…The project itself has inadequate parks, no green space/open space. The shadow impact on the surrounding homes would be unfair to the homeowners.”
These concerns are not new for Queens’ southernmost community board.
In June 2022, the board unanimously approved a moratorium on zoning changes R6 and above to take a stand against any more development in the community, which they worry is beginning to be overburdened by density along with a lack of resources.
“Community Board 14 has only one small hospital that is barely managing the community’s medical needs now, with a 30 percent increase in population and the lack of any level of trauma center groups in the safe traveling distance from CB14 will cause the potential for significant loss of life,” the CB’s moratorium resolution read, as reported by The Wave last year.
At the time, a longtime Far Rockaway resident and board member, Karen Sloan-Payne, called the resolution “the most succinct description of problems in Rockaway I’ve heard.”
Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers has spoken out against approving additional developments for her Southeast Queens district. File photo by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
Edgemere, a 24-block long community, already has other large developments on the horizon; Resilient Edgemere and the 17-story Edgemere Commons, both of which were supported by Brooks-Powers.
Members of a housing advocacy group that supports the project told the Eagle this project falls in line with the city’s and Speaker Adrienne Adams’ housing goals amid a well known housing crisis. They said that the specific site is a good place for additional housing, and would reverse Bloomberg-era downzoning passed in the surrounding area, which limited density before the housing crisis became an issue in the city.
Due to councilmember deference, a City Council policy that allows local members to have outsized power over rezoning projects in their districts, Brooks-Powers opposition to the project may result in its ultimate rejection. Developers and groups who advocate for increased density and housing projects, generally oppose the council’s policy to defer to the local member.
City Hall also expressed the desire to see this project move forward.
“The Adams administration supports efforts to bring affordable homes to Ocean Crest Boulevard, and has been working closely with the City Council to explore any feasible proposals for how to make the proposed project even stronger,” a City Hall spokesperson said in a statement to POLITICO. “We remain hopeful that the Council will vote in favor of adding much needed affordable housing in the Rockaways.”
In a rare but not unheard of action, Mayor Eric Adams last month vetoed a package of housing bills passed by the City Council and aimed primarily at expanding eligibility for the city’s housing voucher program. In what has thus far been one of the biggest legislative fights between the council and the mayor, the City Council voted to overturn the veto in July.
