[NYguy]

https://patch.com/new-york/upper-eas...opment-project

Residents, Pols Rip NYCHA For UES Private Development Project
NYCHA claims an unpopular 50-story development on Holmes Towers land will fund renovations, but skeptics say the money won't make a dent.





By Brendan Krisel
Jan 31, 2019

Public housing residents, local elected officials and the Upper East Side's community board slammed the New York City Housing Authority for a plan to allow a 50-story private development to replace a playground on the Holmes Towers development during a heated meeting Wednesday night.

Critics of the plan claimed that money the developers are committing to NYCHA repairs won't meet the need of the Holmes Tower development and that the troubled agency — which is currently negotiating a plan for greater federal oversight — can't be trusted to spend the money efficiently or responsibly.

Elected officials also ripped into NYCHA for seeking mayoral zoning overrides rather than go through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which would deprive the community board, borough president and city council from publicly reviewing the plan.

The tower — to be built by Fetner Properties — will rise 530 feet above East 92nd Street and will contain 339 apartment units, half of which will be offered at market rates and half of which will be offered at regulated below-market rates, according to building plans filed with the city.

Fetner will pay NYCHA $25 million up front for a 99-year ground lease at the site. All of the money will be used by NYCHA to fund repairs at the HOlmes Towers, officials said.

"Why in the world does this project not go through a ULURP public review? It makes no sense," Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said at a public meeting Wednesday. "At the appropriate time, along with my colleagues, we're gonna fight to make sure Holmes infill goes through the review process and that you have input."

Brewer added that politicians aren't ruling out going to court in order to force a public review of the project.

NYCHA plans to request three mayoral zoning overrides to allow the building that does not conform to the site's current zoning regulations, NYCHA's Director of New Construction Matthew Charney said.

The three mayoral zoning overrides will allow Fetner to:

-Build an ADA-accessible ramp leading to an athletic field that would otherwise be too close to existing NYCHA buildings;

-Construct a tall structure that would otherwise violate the city's mandated "sky exposure plane" — a regulation to set back buildings in order to ensure light and air at street level in dense zoning districts;

-Build 2.3 percent less open space on the lot than required for the maximum amount of residential development density allowed for the site's zoning district.

Charney said that NYCHA has no plans to put the project through ULURP. The NYCHA executive said that the lengthy nature of the ULURP process would cut into the agency's timeline to begin construction on the new building and repairs to Holmes Towers this summer.