The Council voted to re-designate after court voided first designation. The City Council voted on July 25, 2007 to amend the Douglaston Hill Historic District to include a home at 41-45 240th Street that has been the subject of a protracted designation dispute. 4 CityLand 3 (Apr. 15, 2007). Landmarks originally designated the home as part of the Douglaston Hill Historic District in December 2004. The owners, Kevin and Diana Mosley, successfully challenged the home’s designation in court, aided by evidence that the house was constructed in the 1920s and not the 1870s as claimed by Landmarks. Landmarks calendared the home for re-inclusion in January 2007 based on the 1920s construction date, putting a stop to the home’s renovations, which were 75 percent complete at the time.

The Council’s Land Use Committee voted to amend the historic district to re-include the house by a vote of eighteen to three with Council Members Charles Barron, Leroy G. Comrie Jr. and Vincent Ignizio voting against re-inclusion. Barron felt that the homeowners had made a reasonable compromise in trying to appease the preservationists by designing renovations to the house in such a way as to maintain the historic and architectural style of the street. Comrie argued that in this case the homeowner’s rights should be protected over preservation goals. Despite voting in favor of reinclusion, Council Member Miguel Martinez noted his general concerns for the rights of homeowners. Martinez then explained his vote by stating that in this case the designation was based on an ongoing, thorough process, and there was no overnight seizing of the homeowner’s rights. (read more…)

Landmarks re-designates home struck from district by court order. Following a lengthy public hearing, Landmarks voted unanimously on April 3, 2007 to re-include the single- family home at 41-45 240th Street back into the Douglaston Hill Historic District.

Landmarks originally included the home within a December 2004 designation, but a court struck down the home’s inclusion, ordering Landmarks to hold a second hearing focused on the owners’ claim that the home dated to 1920 rather than the 1870s date in the designation report. At the courtordered Landmarks hearing, the owners, who remained opposed, explained that they significantly enlarged the home in the year that it took Landmarks to hold the hearing and it no longer merited designation. 4 CityLand 43 (April 15, 2007). (read more…)

Contentious public hearing held on re-inclusion of private home into Queens historic district. Over a year after a court vacated Landmarks’ decision to include 41-45 240th Street into the Douglaston Hill Historic District, Landmarks held a public hearing on its re-inclusion on March 13, 2007.

Landmarks originally included 41-45 240th Street, a private home owned by Kevin and Diana Mosley, within its December 2004 designation. The Mosleys challenged their home’s inclusion and the designation of the entire district, arguing that the decision was arbitrary and Landmarks ignored evidence suggesting their home dated to the 1920s, not the 1870s as Landmarks claimed. In December 2005, a court upheld the designation of the Douglaston Historic District but removed the Mosleys’ home from the district, ordering Landmarks to hold a new hearing and consider the Mosleys’ evidence. 3 CityLand 15 (Feb. 15, 2006). (read more…)