Atiny nonprofit has outsize
influence on city zoning plan
Dream of turnin,
Queens industri:
area into ‘Flushing
BY JOE ANUTA
To ease New Yorks affordable-
housing crisis, the de Blasio admin
istration wants to redesign 15 city
neighborhoods to allow for the con
struction of more apartments. Nat-
urally, these efforts have been led by
the Department of City Planing
Allexcept one.
City officials have entered into
an unusual arrangement with a
small nonprofit run by former
‘Queens Borough President Claire
Shulman to develop residential
buildings transportation paris,and
rezall and comer space for 60
acres of industrial property along
4 Crain's New York Busines June 29,2085
the westen border of Flushing
"The organization, ealed the
Flushing Willets Point Corona
Lacal Bewlonmene Corp, oe
sees a portion ofthe proposal fora
tiew sghbechood vo be called
Flushing West, while the Depart-
meat of City Planning is working
a a paid contractor forthe develr
opment corporation, according to
invervigivs and documents "re
viewed by Crain.
W's using sow
Tre coe ofthe nonprotin the
plang poset ed the money
will be paying the department raise
{questions about who is actually run-
‘ing the show in this partof Queens
td how much el rate interes
whe spe th ate
tment corpoction’s botrdstand to
nn
‘The area in question includes
about dowza blots longs palit
d stretch of the Flushing River
bounded by Northern Boulevard to
the north and the No. 7 tran tothe
south. It’s home to warehouses and
businesses that inchude Scrap King,
U-Haul fay and College Pit
whose a otes an
alenonceallecions
But an estimated 1,600 new
apartments and hundreds of thou-
finds of square fr of etl and of-
fice space could be builtin Flushing
Wiest if the ae zoning wee al
according to Propos-
tls by the nonprode, Sore enough,
Planning Commissioner Cari
‘Weisbrod announced last Novem
ber thatthe city would begin a study
of the gritty swath, the first step to-
‘ward a full-blown rezoning
‘Yet the history behind his an-
nouncement is complicated.
‘The nonprofit led by Ms. Shul-
‘man has been working toward the
same goal since 2011, when it re-
‘See TNY on Pago 25,Tiny nonprofit, big influence
Continued from Page 4
ceived a $1.5 million state grant to
help revitalize the area. In an un-
common arrangement, it agreed to
py $800,000 of dat cash oir the
Gy as a eubcontractr. Draft con
tuacts show the city’s duties were t0
‘City planners contend the de-
pratangedety dy
Sh
Sher ye depart
prefers tote ts oft owe vol
cr cnply ube en
propos. fm applicants
tnd hen ches forthe serve
nce the Flushing West concept
is completed, the planning depart-
rmentis expected to take it through a
lengthy public review process before
itispresented tothe City Council for
vote, acording to emails and a
ries of draft contracts between the
city the nonprofit and the state. The
documents were provided to Crain
bya group of property owners called
Wo oie Uatted that ighrng
the development corporation’ plans
for the area. The group obtained
them through Freedom of informa
tion Actrequest.
‘One land-use expert wondered
why the de Blasio administration
icked small and remote Flushing
‘West to rezone in the first place.
“fyouwere guided by ood pub-
lic policy,you would seck out places
toputhousing where ether the sup-
porting infastructue already exists
‘ris easily provided,” said Joan By-
ton,policy directorat the Pratt Cen-
ter for Community Development.
For example, another
ora fr eae Now ore
‘ishome to the A,
Shiu te ark
st te
100 blocks and create up to 7,000
=
atone change
On the che and, he planing
department has lor -Flush-
ae ie
etn arenpeed to win 2
ee rye eee
ein grec
Queens who oe ‘identi-
| _
tially doing thesame thing but with
pws oo cer
asked wo revieie
Mo. Shulman nonprofit eet
igual na
Fails planning fob cosact
hhas been drawn up at least once be-
fore, with a Staten Island
‘The $800,000 payments not an
eager
tet anger ighbohood heck
ficial added, but a chance for the
resouce-strapped cit
fiche lege ll ged
Stil, the Qucens nonprofit has
the contractual authority to sign off
‘ona portion of the planning depart-
‘ments work under the ene ofthe
deal. The nonprofit has an annual
‘budget of $500,000, and Ms. Shul-
‘man was paid $60,000 to lead it in
2033, according to the atest aval
le tax flings. Its stated mission is
fo promete Sones deopeat
in northern Queens and foster
greater connections with its name~
sake neighborhoods.
‘Some ofthe organization's mem-
bers and supporters also have inter-
cts in nearby realestate and could
Iepot lashing Westone pst
ing of Flushing West come to pass.
"An executive at TDC
-ment—which hasunderaken large-
scale residential and commercial
projects nearby and owns parcels of
Jandin the rezoning area—saton the
board ofthe nonprofit s recently as
2013. TDC officals dd not respond
to requests for comment.
‘Another 2013 board member was
leasing agent for Sky View Pare, a
condo projectsoutho West
‘whose retail portions were sold last
week for about $400 milion to the
Blackstone Group (se story, Page 6).
Theepent cin coment
feourse, owners fequently 2p-
ply to the city to rezone a property
fo squeeze greater value ut fit. In
addition, it is standard practice for
sezoning applicants to pay the plan-
ning department for advice and the
pun ating dean
i eee age
milfs
it rash not break any
mae ick
toe ald sea Sea ae
best,” said one land-use
isan chat wouilbappenit
the nonprofit doesn't like
city comes up with, or if the “Cir
Ponsa” Canace a SY
er bay ta ape al
eebPenapanihe ye Raed
Penance
Byerly
Faring to the city of in
ec
eee ranera
work, but there are numerous checks
and balances in the multistage re-
aces
ty An te pnp nd the
ministration dontt see eye-to-«
a for the neighborhood, he
Lcanahrapaee te papas
al itself, the official said.
Pushing for more discussion
‘The new plan is only now start-
ing to take shape. Whether or not
actually amiss, Pratt's
- jalltheconsictsand
arrangements should be more open
Jy discussed. “You would want the
ity to be really transparent when
they are working with someone who
has already put out theiragends,"she
said, citing the nonprofits earlier ef
{forts to devise a plan forthe area.
‘The planning department din
fact, divulge the subcontracting re~
lationship during a public mecting,
bt Wills Point United,
‘ime foe of Ms, Shulman, cont
the information only came up in re~
sponse to direct question posted to
ing offical.
AT thnk this whole thing should
be thrown out,” said Gerald An-
tonacei, who owns awaste and recy-
cing company called Crown Con-
tuner and is the head ofthe group,
which also opposed a Bloomberg
ea plan to a 23-acre site
that is home to auto shops and oth
€: industrial companies in nearby
Wiles Point
activists argue thatnonprof-
its such as Ms. Sina do:
‘ent corporation are legally barred
fiom lobbying or trying to influence
legislation—and since rezonings are
Jews, the organization has run afoul
ofthis provision.
‘A spokeswoman for the non-
profit noted that all its activities
‘were vetted by the tateand that the
development corporation is not en
eget in any atempt to infuence
legislation
Sever draft cones with the
nt, however show
‘SeeMe Shalmarsnonprofe nia
Iyexpected to pay the ety to take its
‘Fhshing West plan through the en-
tie rezoning process. And after that
portion ofthe contract was nixed, the
sre ging ened bec
the nonprofit, several
‘emails and draft agreements show.
“The best way to secure such a
bay-in is for [the planning depart-
‘ment] to join the Flushing West ef-
fort asthe project's subcontractor,”
the nonprofit wrote in an October
2914 document.
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