Search Results for: Rockaway, Queens

Court upholds BSA’s denial of variance

BSA legalized existing Queens homeless housing facility, but denied request to expand facility. In the 1980s, Homes for the Homeless, Inc. converted an abandoned hotel on Rockaway Boulevard near Kennedy Airport into a 259-bed homeless housing facility; a use which conflicted with the lot’s manufacturing zoning. Over 15 years later, Homes applied to BSA for variances to expand the facility for 91 additional homeless families and legalize the use. The expansion faced significant opposition.

BSA … <Read More>

Freight transfer facility allowed to work on Sundays

Post-9/11 changes required amendment to 1996 BSA resolution. Compass Forwarding operates a freight transfer facility near JFK Airport at 159-15 Rockaway Blvd. in Springfield, Queens. In 1996, Compass obtained a variance to permit enlargement of its transfer station on condition that operations would be suspended Sundays. In July 2005, Compass applied to BSA to amend the terms of the variance to allow Sunday operation so that it could comply with post-9/11 regulations for air freight … <Read More>

Area rezoned to preserve one and two family homes

Residents sought rezoning to halt subdivisions and out-of-character residential development. On March 22, 2006, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning impacting 82 blocks of the Bayswater and Far Rockaway neighborhoods in Queens. The rezoned areas are predominately residential and border the Far Rockaway commercial district. The rezoning was proposed in response to overdevelopment concerns caused by the subdivision of large lots and replacement of one- and two-family homes with multi-family homes.

Existing R2, R3-2, … <Read More>

Flight 587 Memorial Park

Site for the Flight 587 Memorial Park to be located 15 blocks from crash site. The Department of Transportation and Department of Parks and Recreation applied for a map amendment to establish a Memorial Park honoring the 265 victims who died when flight 587 crashed in Rockaway in November 2001. The site consists of .16 acres between Beach 116th Street’s southern turnaround and Ocean Promenade.

The map amendment would eliminate portions of Beach 116th Street … <Read More>

Court remands decision on homeless housing to BSA

Provider of transitional housing appealed denial of variance. Homes for the Homeless, Inc. operated the Saratoga, a transitional housing facility for the homeless on Rockaway Boulevard in Queens. After receiving a request for proposals for added units, Homes applied to BSA for two variances: to legalize the use of its homeless facility, which was located in an M-1 district zoned for light manufacturing, and to expand its homeless units by constructing a new building.

BSA … <Read More>

Variance for carwash denied

Developer failed to show residential use was infeasible on large Queens site. On December 7, 2004, BSA denied a variance application for an automatic car wash proposed for 34- 11 Rockaway Boulevard at the corner of Sea Girt Boulevard in Queens, a C2- 2(R6) zone. Residential and retail use, but not car washes, would be permitted as-of-right on the site, a 37,255 sq.ft. lot with a 206 ft. street frontage along Far Rockaway Boulevard and … <Read More>