Details About Fifth Avenue Supportive Housing Development
As the discussion about the supportive housing development the Fifth Avenue Committee wants to build on Fifth Avenue at 16th Street continues, the South Slope Blog IMBY posts a rendering of the project and some details about the building itself. IMBY, which has been out front chronicling some of the damage done by development in the South Slope, is supportive of this project, writing that he "supports affordable housing at this location and hopes that their application is approved." As for the $7.75 million building itself, IMBY includes a great deal of detail, a tiny portion of which is as follows:The building's design calls for 5 stories on the Fifth Avenue commercial side, a 5 story "tower" at the corner, and then moving on down in height to a contextual 4 stories on its 16th street side. Access to the residential portion of the building will be through a gated "mews" entrance at 16th St. The mews connects to a fully landscaped back yard outdoor public garden visible from 16th street. The resident entrance will be manned by a 24 hour security checkpoint.The Borough President will have a hearing on the project tonight.
The "green" aspects of the building will include: High efficiency centralized, gas powered HVAC system that will limit the impact on the areas electric grid while eliminating unsightly air conditioner sleeves...
posted by rsguskind at 7:20 AM
1 Comments:
I think the concern some of the residents of the area have is that FAC is giving a lot of information on how the building will look but little information as to how the facility will operate in relation to members of the community. It seems that some community groups are willing to give the FAC a blank check as to how it operates the facility and is quick to brand anyone who is asking detailed questions as "people who have irrational fears". The fact is that many in the community have legitimate fears that have not been addressed by the FAC in anything but an ambiguous way. If some members of the immediate area have irrational fears then the FAC should educate these community members by giving them the operating procedures on record for how the facility will operate. This should not be a problem for them as they already manage other facilities of the same nature. Instead of the FAC informing members of the community and addressing their concerns they seem to be rallying other community organizations to steam roll this project past any opposition. None of these community organizations seems to mind the fact that the FAC's original proposal to the Community Board 7 mentioned anything about housing mentally ill people. This weekend supporters of the FAC were on 5th Ave getting signatures from people telling them it was just for affordable housing. When I was approached it took me asking them three questions for them to admit there would be a 60% occupancy of mentally ill. This is not telling the truth and is a lie by omission. If a developer used the same tactics all these community groups would be all over them. It seems like many in the community will settle for anything but a development. I am not a big fan of all the development going on in the slope but are we going to be a one issue community? Instead of demonizing people as irrational or uninformed these community groups should reach out to the community members who have issues with the project and help them get the answers that will put them at ease. Isn't that what community outreach is supposed to be about?
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