Alms House rezoning bid on agenda
Common Council committee will meet Thursday on issue one month after tabling request
City aldermen are expected to again take up a request to rezone the former Alms House property on Flatbush Avenue to make way for a housing project when they meet during a special committee meeting Thursday evening.
The Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee will meet at 7 p.m. in conference room 1 at City Hall, 420 Broadway. At a meeting last month, the committee had voted to table the rezoning request after discussing the matter behind closed doors with their attorneys.
Committee Chairwoman Lynn Eckert, D-Ward 1, could not be reached for comment.
RUPCO, an affordable housing agency, has asked the Common Council to change the Alms House property’s zoning designation from single-family residential to multifamily residential use. The change would allow the agency to move forward with a proposal to purchase the property at 300 Flatbush Ave. and
create a 66-unit apartment project there called Landmark Place. The property is in Ward 6. Alderman Tony Davis, D-Ward 6, recently said he would vote against the zoning change request.
Fellow Alderman Reynolds Scott-Childress, DWard 3, said he would vote for the zoning change, but he did not say whether he support’s RUPCO’s housing proposal.
RUPCO wants to create 34 housing units in the existing vacant structure and construct a new four-story building on the same property that would house 32 apartments. More than half the total units at Landmark Place would offer support services to a mix of homeless populations with special needs, including veterans and frail or disabled seniors, RUPCO has said. The housing would be open only to individuals 55 and older.
The Alms House most recently housed Ulster County offices.