Builder seeks approval for parking garage

By N. Clark Judd

Hoping to turn a profit off what has so far been a money pit, the developer of an Irwin Avenue apartment building is seeking Community Board 8's approval for a variance to add commercial parking to the site.

Representatives for the owner of the development, at 3217 Irwin Ave., came to the May 1 land use meeting to ask the board for support as they request a variance from the city Board of Standards and Appeals. Current zoning does not allow the developer to build "transient parking," or parking for people who don't live in the building.

According to Josh Rinesmith, an attorney for the developer, his client is looking to add commercial parking to the site in an effort to offset additional construction costs.

After several years, several owners and more than a few stop-work orders issued by the Buildings Department, the rocky property, wedged between the Riverdale Avenue retaining wall, a step street and another apartment building, is still just one big excavation site with no structure.

According to plans filed on Monday with the Buildings Department, the developer hopes to erect an 11-story, 26-unit apartment building on the site. Board 8 District Manager Nicole Stent said the developer is seeking a variance to build up to 39 units. The first three floors, which would be accessible from Irwin Avenue, would be dedicated to parking, the plans show. The building will also include community space.

Mr. Rinesmith said in order to build, the developer had to dig deeper into the bedrock and also had to put additional support structures in place along the Riverdale Avenue retaining wall, which added costs.

Without adequate plans to address neighborhood concerns that a garage would bring traffic and noise to the quiet, residential street, board members were reluctant to give approval and asked the representatives to go back to the drawing board.

"For example, they couldn't detail ingress and egress," said Damian McShane, the board's vice chairman. "They have a graphical depiction of what the building would look like completed, but it didn't really illustrate how you would operate the property."

But board members aren't ready to toss the plan.

"I like the idea of a commercial parking facility," Mr. McShane said, "but I would throw in the caveat, provided he addresses the concerns of his neighbors."

It seems unlikely that the developer will be able to appease his neighbors. The garage, they say, will change the character of their street and clog the air.

"It's a tremendous pollution problem because of the way the wall is," said Nina Reid, who lives near the development. She and other neighbors are concerned that the Riverdale Avenue retaining wall, which towers over their homes, will trap car exhaust, exposing their five blocks of largely singlefamily homes to noxious particulates.

Traffic is another neighborhood worry, especially given the site's proximity to several schools and bus stops.

"You have all of these young children going from one bus to another going all up and down the street, and now we're going to have commercial parking?" asked an incredulous Charlotte Cohen, who has lived on Irwin Avenue for 52 years. "This isn't Manhattan."

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz also opposes the garage plan, saying on Tuesday that it would bring in "more noise, traffic and pollution."

Board 8 will make a recommendation to the Board of Standard and Appeals. While its approval is not needed to win a variance, Mr. Rinesmith said, it makes it easier.

This is part of the May 15, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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