No turning back development tide

To the editor:

At two recent events, candidates for public office strongly expressed support for respecting current zoning rules in our neighborhood. 

Such rules protect the quality of life of all Riverdalians and are openly flouted in the current expansion plans proposed by the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. The plan, in a recent incarnation, would construct three or four apartments of six, eight or 10 stories to house 300 residents and offer parking to an estimated 500 cars. 

In counterpoint, the Riverdale Community Coalition hosted the three candidates for City Council who will run for the seat of term-limited and esteemed Councilman Oliver Koppell. Cliff Stanton, Andrew Cohen and Shelley Keeling unanimously spoke in favor of respecting the R1-1 zoning codes that were strengthened by Special Natural Area District (S.N.A.D.) zoning resolutions that arose in the 1970s.

There are only four S.N.A.D. mapped regions in New York City and one is within our own Community Board 8. It includes the property on which the Hebrew Home plans to expand. CB 8, with support of then Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr. and Councilman Koppell adopted a so-called 197A plan and presented the successful S.N.A.D. application in 2003.

Monday night at the Y, four candidates for mayor: Sal F. Albanese, Christine Quinn, John Liu, and Adolfo Carrion Jr. also voiced, among attractive lists of campaign proposals, strong preference for respecting zoning rules. They said they supported preservation of open space that would include support for the construction of a passage of the Hudson River Greenway through the Bronx. 

Because the Hebrew Home expansion has not been formally presented to all the appropriate New York City commissions, these candidates, reasonably, were reluctant to express specific opinions about Hebrew Home plans. However, it was John Liu who captured a most important point. He said encroachment on open space is a violation that cannot be redeemed. He said, open spaces should be part of our children’s inheritance, and that once altered there is no way to recover the natural environment — especially a region with S.N.A.D. protection.

 It’s unclear whether the candidates, especially Ms. Quinn, were completely open about an awareness of the Hebrew Home expansion plans. However, readers of The Riverdale Press need to pay attention and realize that land development in the guise of elder-care housing will whet the appetite of ever more subtle and sophisticated builders who will prey on the several other large open spaces in our neighborhood, whatever the zoning designation. 

Bruce Volpe