Envisioning Downtown Staten Island
From the Staten Island Advance
Search heats up for North Shore’s ‘downtown cool’
Business group engages Landmarks panel member to craft zoning ideas for Bay St. from St. George to Clifton
Friday, April 20, 2007
By KAREN O’SHEA
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Aiming to strike while private and public investment is peaking along the North Shore waterfront, a St. George-based business group has engaged a prominent local architect and city Landmarks commissioner to re-imagine the stretch of Bay Street from St. George south to Clifton.
In announcing yesterday that they had retained Pablo Vengoechea to make zoning recommendations for the area, members of the Downtown Staten Island Council said they hope to bring more people, better architecture and development to the mile-long stretch and foster what one local businessman called the “downtown cool” that has revitalized other boroughs.
North Shore residents want the same thing, but some have warned that too much density, particularly in the form of high-rise development, could block views and hurt homeowners
“Pablo has the skills to forge that vision for us,” Daniel Marotta, an attorney, St. George resident and member of the Downtown Council, said yesterday.
It seems that Vengoechea, a St. George resident and vice chairman of the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, could be the right arbiter for the two groups. He served on the mayor’s Staten Island Growth Management Task Force, and zoning proposals he had once included in a study for the Building Industry Association were eventually incorporated into new rules drafted by the growth management group.
Marotta joined Vengoechea and other council members during a morning press conference on Bay Street in St. George, with a brand-new 101-unit waterfront condominium as the backdrop. Down the block, another new residential building containing 58 condos is nearly complete.
Marotta said despite differing opinions, interest in the North Shore is all to the good.
“I think people really feel the buzz now,” said Marotta, who pointed to new restaurants in the area and the opening last weekend of a gallery on Water Street in Stapleton.
Vengoechea hopes to build on that buzz as he studies the town centers of St. George, Tompkinsville, Stapleton and Clifton and looks for ways to make them vibrant, 24-hour communities.
“These are not just destination points, these are places we want people to live in and to shop,” he said.
As part of his analysis, he will look at changing zoning, improving the streetscape and encouraging the construction of environmentally friendly buildings. The council obtained $33,000 from the city’s Department of Small Business Services to pay for the study, and the group hopes to be able to come up with draft recommendations in 90 days.
The review also is likely to broach a controversial subject: What to do about recent zone changes limiting the size of residential buildings in St. George. Developers, including one building new condos in the area, have complained that the changes have stymied their plans for tall buildings.
“We realize that is an issue,” said Vengoechea.
It’s unclear how the matter will be addressed.
“There are a lot of things wrong with the zoning. We need more people with disposable income and people who can walk into the shops, and the only way we can get that is through density,” said Joseph Marotta, another member of the Downtown Council. He is not related to Dan Marotta.
But Theordore Dorian, president of the St. George Civic Association, said density needs to be balanced with consideration for homeowners who invested in the community years ago and who cherish their waterfront views and sense of place. He said school overcrowding and a lack of parking are other concerns.
Dorian, who said he had just been asked by the Downtown Council to serve as an advisory member and review the study, is keeping an open mind.
“In this neighborhood, we are passionate about preserving all that we love,” he said. “I think Pablo Vengoechea is the right person to balance all of the many conflicting and intersecting elements here.”
Karen O’Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at [email protected] .
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