UES Community Board To Fight Private Development On NYCHA Lot

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A large portion of the Upper East Side's local community board vowed to fight a plan to construct a 500-foot tower on the campus of the New York City Housing Authority's Holmes and Isaacs developments.

Board members from the board's committees on housing, zoning and development and health, seniors and social services voted unanimously Wednesday night on a resolution to oppose the development. That resolution will go to a full board vote in December.

The tower — to be built by Fetner Properties — is one of the first projects in the New York City Housing Authority's NextGen NYCHA initiative which allows private development on public housing land in order to fund repairs at NYCHA developments.

The board's concerns with the development were wide-ranging. Board members voiced opposition not only to the design and size of the building, but also to the development's affordable housing components, the amount of money being raised for NYCHA repairs and whether the city should be allowing private development on land set aside for public housing.

An urban planner working with the board, George Janes, said that the city approached the Holmes Towers development like a run-of-the-mill land deal instead of a holistic project to improve the Holmes and Isaacs communities.

"This can't be considered a real estate deal. This can't be like 'oh we have an excess piece of property, let's dispose of it,'" Janes said during Wednesday night's meeting. "That is the wrong way to do this."

Board members overwhelmingly agreed with Janes, calling the development a "bad precedent" to set for the NextGen NYCHA program.

Janes, an Upper East Side resident, also cast doubt on whether Fetner's planned development will adhere to the zoning regulations in place for the East 92nd Street building site. The urban planner said Wednesday that the development will likely violate the zoning regulations for a sky exposure plane — which prevents developments of a certain mass at high elevations in order to preserve light and air quality at street levels — and claimed that developers will seek a rare Mayoral Zoning Override to skirt the zoning rules instead of applying for a zoning variance through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

The Mayoral Zoning Override would effectively neuter the Community Board, Borough President and City Council's ability to weigh in on the project, Janes said. Part of the resolution passed Wednesday night by the board included language specifically opposing a Mayoral Zoning Override for the project.

A spokesperson for City Councilman Ben Kallos, who has voiced concerns about the deal in the past, said Wednesday the councilman will oppose any development with market-rate apartments and believes the $25 million secured by the city for fixes at the Holmes Towers will not adequately cover repair costs.

In May 2017, the New York City Housing Authority announced that real estate developer Fetner Properties was selected to develop a plot of land currently occupied by a playground between the two Holmes Towers buildings on East 92nd Street between First and York avenues. The housing authority predicted that the new Holmes Towers development will raise $25 million, half of which would be directly invested in capital needs at the two-building development.

The 500-foot-tall development will contain about 300 apartment units, half of which will be offered at market rates and half of which will be offered at regulated below-market rates.

The development company categorically denies a number of the board's objections with its planned development, namely that Fetner has kept the community in the dark about its plans and that apartments in the development will not be affordable for low-income New Yorkers.

Since May 2017, Fetner has held at least 18 to 20 information sessions open to residents in the Holmes and Isaacs developments at the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, the development company's CEO Hal Fetner told Patch.

"We heard the criticism that we're not engaged with the community. It's hurtful. We're disappointed," Fetner said.

"We have tried to meet with a broad spectrum of the community. We have visited apartments with residents and met with residents to talk about the finishes and some of the upgrades they are going to be getting as a result of our deal. In fact there are a number of residents, who maybe were not represented last night, who are excited about the concept of new kitchens and bathrooms and new windows."

The developer also challenged the notion that below-market apartments in the development would not be kept at levels affordable to Holmes and Isaacs residents. Fetner said that income requirements for regulated units will not exceed 60 percent of a metric known as Area Median Income. Individuals who earn $43,860 per year and families of three who earn a combined $56,340 are eligible for apartments offered at 60 percent AMI.

Of the development's regulated units: 60 percent of the units will be offered at 60 percent AMI, 15 percent will be offered at 50 percent AMI, 15 percent will be offered at 40 percent AMI and 10 percent will be offered at 30 percent AMI, Fetner told Patch.

Developers also touted a planned 18,000-square-foot open space with a basketball court and turf field in the development and noted that the city's request for bids only called for 3,000 square feet of open space to account for the loss of a playground currently occupying the building site.

Fetner said that he understands concerns regarding using NYCHA land for private development, but that the developer simply responded to the city's request for proposals for the site.

"At the end of the day it is no secret that NYCHA needs cash. They're 32 to 40 billion in the red," Fetner said. "And you know what, at the end of the day these resident need clean, safe housing with hot water and heat. And the buildings that are become deteriorate, sources need to be found to renovate these units."

The full Community Board 8 will vote on the joint committee's resolution during its December meeting. The board is also planning another public hearing to discuss the Fetner development in January and is inviting representatives from the mayor's office, NYCHA and Fetner. Developers are planning to attend the January hearing, Fetner told Patch.

Photo courtesy New York City Housing Authority