NEWS: Report on the LPC Sunnyside Gardens Meeting last week
From the Queens Gazette: http://www.qgazette.com/news/2006/1206/features/013.html
Landmarks Preservation, Sunnyside Owners Confer
BY THOMAS COGAN
The latest evidence of the movement to make Sunnyside Gardens a historic district was a meeting conducted at Sunnyside Community Services at the end of November. Members of the city Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) led a panel discussion that concluded the movement’s prospects were bright. In the words of LPC Chairman Robert B. Tierney, the commission and the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance were taking “a major step forward” that night toward the goal of giving Sunnyside Gardens landmark status. It could be effected, Tierney estimated, “while there’s still snow on the ground”-meaning, in early 2007. Most of the audience of at least 200 persons probably considered that statement good news, but some of the questions asked and doubts raised during the inquiry period following the panel’s presentation made landmark status for Sunnyside Gardens appear less than unanimous or inevitable.
The panel consisted of Tierney and Sarah Carroll, the commission’s director of preservation (and a Sunnyside resident); Mary Beth Betts, director of research; Tenzing Chadotshang of the restoration grant program; and Diane Jackier, director of government and community affairs. All were introduced by Herbert Reynolds, head of the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance. Betts explained the neighborhood’s boundaries “as we are proposing them”. There was no great departure from common assumption of what the boundaries contain: an area running between 39th and 49th Streets west to east and Skillman and 39th Avenues south to north; with a significant area running from 47th to 52nd Streets, bounded south to north by 39th and Barnett Avenues; and a panhandle between 47th and 48th Streets and between Skillman Avenue and Queens Boulevard north to south. This takes in the planned community built between 1924 and 1928, and also the Phipps Houses, the apartment project located between 50th and 52nd Streets and 39th and Barnett Avenues, which was opened in 1931.
Betts described the community meeting that night as the first step in the process to gain landmark status for Sunnyside Gardens. It would then become an item on the commissioners’ calendar; then an official public hearing would bring out pro and con issues. A commission vote would follow. If the process remained alive, residents would be informed further of the strictures of landmark status and a temporary “L” designation would be granted. Finally, the matter would be brought before the city Planning Commission.
Sarah Carroll said the LPC is concerned only with exteriors. What is built inside the houses is the residents’ business. The concern for exteriors does not normally include plantings or lawn furniture, and its principal interest is the front of buildings, the sides and rear being allowed leeway. Green areas are also of concern, acutely so when paving natural ground becomes an issue. Nearly all issues between commission and residents are settled without the bother of a public hearing, she said. She approached the topic of enforcement gingerly, but emphasized that the commission is vigilant in the matter of unauthorized renovations that are made without a permit.
Monitoring the question period was Jimmy Van Bramer of the Queens Borough Public Library, described by Reynolds as the latest person to buy a house in Sunnyside Gardens. The first questioner was Marc Levitt, an attorney, who said this preservation issue has been argued since 1974. He asked what chance there would be for a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. Steve Cooper, another attorney and vice chairman of Community Board 2, said that this was a Landmarks, not a Buildings Department matter, so the chance of a ULURP is small. Another inquirer didn’t so much ask about LPC concern for land not visible from the street as stated that it had none. Carroll denied that, saying the LPC has exercised control over the back gardens in the landmarks area of Jackson Heights, for instance. Dorothy Morehead, Community Board 2 member, a realtor, restaurateur and Sunnyside Gardens resident, asked about the legitimacy of skylights. Carroll said they might be permissible, but at the same time the LPC is concerned primarily for the preservation of original slate roofs. The next questioner, local resident Jack McShane, suggested that such blessedly original material could be prohibitively expensive when the time came for repairs. Carroll replied that the LPC staff is always willing to consult with residents about possible alternatives. A woman asked if there are tax breaks for those who must repair landmarked property. Carroll told her that the tax considerations approved by Albany are disappointingly small but at present represent “a foot in the door”, anyway. Another resident, apparently concerned about the LPC’s emphasis on original material, didn’t seem pleased as he declared that he’s being governed by 80-yearold standards. On the other hand, a man from 49th Street, who admitted to being 70 years old, said that several of his elderly neighbors become anxious when city agencies tell them if they wish to be informed about requirements that affect them and their residences, they can read them on departmental Web sites. Don’t ask them to do that, he said- computers remain a mystery to many of these people.
Carroll had to admit that several violations in the neighborhood, such as driveways and paved areas, are accomplished facts once they’ve been committed and cannot be rolled back by order of the LPC-though what the Buildings Department might say about them if and when the owner wishes to sell the property is another matter. She said the LPC was mainly concerned that these violations not be committed in future. When asked if masonry repairs are considered standard maintenance or a special case, Carroll said repointing brickwork is definitely treated as special and is carefully monitored by the commission.
Objections were most apparent near the end of the meeting, an ending that was enforced by those in charge of the meeting to prevent a long evening. One man said Sunnyside Gardens, contrary to widely held belief, had no status as a historic district. He did not favor landmark status. Another, a resident for nearly two decades, wondered if strictures on repairs once landmark status had been established would present an onerous expense to homeowners who have already paid very high prices for their residences. And Ira Greenberg, a 47th Street resident, expressed his concern that there are too many complications yet to be sorted out, and a rush to landmark status could leave residents believing they must accept obligations they weren’t sufficiently warned about.
There were several minutes of post-meeting exchanges between the audience and the LPC board. The meeting having been held, the rest of the process should go into effect as LPC Chairman Tierney has described it.