Community Board 7 Land Use & Landmarks Committee Report

February 16, 2011

After the Public hearing held on February 9, 2011 the Land Use Committee
recommends that the Community Board vote not to support the Appeals (A)
Application #223-10-A regarding the property located at 161 East 7th Street – a/k/a
42 Kermit Place, Block 5321 lot 73.

The committee reviewed the history of the site and the relationship of the owner and
the community and found the evidence or the lack of evidence presented at the
public hearing offered no valid reason to support this appeals application to allow
the prior zoning of R-6 to be vested in this property. The change in zoning did not
stop this building from being built.

History of the site:

There was work conducted on the site from 4/4/2008 to 5/18/2008 when a Stop Work
Order was put in place.
The Stop Work Order was lifted in October 2008 – no further work took place on
the site regarding the completion of the foundation.
The Zoning changed on 3/11/2009 to R 5 B.
On 3/28/2009 a DOB inspection found that only 20% of the foundation was
completed and the site was not considered Vested.

At the public hearing an Attorney for the Owner made a very competent
presentation, claiming that a significant portion of the building had been completed
at the time the new zoning was approved and substantial expenditures in fees and
purchase of materials had been made.

The Attorney also stated that the Owner was considering changing the design of the
building. The new plan was for a 4 story building reducing the height from 6
stories, however the number of units - all one bedrooms would remain at 17. The
Attorney started that the owner was going to place one level of parking
underground and elimate the floor that was designated for a community facility.

However, there were no plans for the New Design presented nor were the any solid
financial figures presented to support the contention of the owner that there was
substantial completion of the building at 42 Kermit.

No one spoke in favor of the proposal.

The sense of the Committee was that this application was not a bona fide effort on
the part of the owner to in fact go forward with any building on the site and this
application was most likely an effort to enhance the value of the property for sale at
a later time. This site is adjacent to the proposed school and is included in the actual
site plan.