Alms House hearing could be extended
A March public hearing on a controversial housing project could be extended into another session of the Planning Board, an official said last week.
City Planner Suzanne Cahill said there is a possibility that the Planning Board decides to extend a March 19 hearing on RUPCO’s plan to build an affordable housing complex at the former Alms House site.
The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on that day at City Hall, 420 Broadway.
The Planning Board is review the project to decide whether to approved RUPCO’s site plan.
In June, the Planning Board voted 3-2 to issue a “negative declaration” for the project meaning it would not have a significant impact on the neighborhood.
Many opinions both for and against the affordable housing project known as Landmark Place have already been publicly aired or expressed in letters to the city’s Planning Office.
Cahill was uncertain if the Planning Board would extend the March 19 hearing but, if it did, that would give yet another opportunity for the public and RUPCO to weigh in on the project.
Planning Board Chairman Wayne Platte said Saturday he “anticipated” the board would decide to extend the public hearing.
Opposition has mostly come from the neighborhood around the Flatbush Avenue site where the project is planned to be built.
Kingston-based affordable housing agency, RUPCO, wants to create 66 units of senior housing at the Alms House site. The proposal calls for creating 34 apartments in the existing vacant Alms House structure and 32 more units in a four-story building that would be constructed on the site but at a lower elevation. Homeless support services would be available.
In the last significant action, a motion for the Common Council to reconsider an already approved zoning change for the former Alms House property died in committee in February.
At the meeting of the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee, Seventh Ward Alderman Patrick O’Reilly moved to bring the rezoning of the Alms House site back to the council, arguing that the council’s newest members needed an opportunity to review the matter. His motion did not receive a second and therefore died in committee.
O’Reilly, a non-enrolled voter, said there are numerous issues regarding the property at 300 Flatbush Ave. and that new council members who took office Jan. 1 have not had the time to review the issue thoroughly.
RUPCO’s plan was in doubt for several months after the Common Council last July rejected the rezoning that was needed for the planned housing. The vote was 5-4 in favor of the rezoning, but that was two “yes” votes short of the “supermajority” the council had deemed necessary for approval.
RUPCO responded by filing a lawsuit against the city, and a judge ruled in December that simple-majority approval was sufficient.
In January, Common Council President James Noble told his colleagues there were no grounds or authority for them to reconsider the zoning change. At that same meeting, Noble announced the Alms House property would be rezoned for multifamily residential use based on the Common Council’s previous vote.