The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

New Apartment Variance

I'm only slightly interested myself, but I thought it might be interesting to note how this works...

An org called Community Options wants to turn an apartment on Woodruff, tween Flat and Ocean, into a home for two developmentally disabled people. They can't just do it without a hearing, so the Community Board (14 in this case) sets one up so that people can come and comment.

Personally I see no reason why a single apartment can't be used for such a noble purpose and granting some dignity and self-sufficiency to a couple of challenged adults. It's interesting, however, that Woodruff has quite a number of buildings dedicated to social services. I know that there was an effort to thwart their proliferation on the block many years back, but the effort fell short, and there's been a bit of wary tension ever since. Two of the bigger buildings are owned by Moses Fried, he of the disaster taking shape at 225 Parkside. It would seem logical that his strategy at 225 is to also lease to a social service agency, since his idea of a long-stay hotel is not likely to be a viable "legal" option, and we'll certainly do our best to keep him honest.

Here's the posting from CB14:

POTENTIAL COMMUNITY RESIDENCE

Community Options, Inc. and the New York State Office For People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) have submitted an application a for a potential Community Residence to be located at 161-65 Woodruff Avenue, Apt. 2D, between East 21st Street and Clarkson/Flatbush Avenues within Community District 14 in compliance with Section 41.34(e)(2) of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law. The proposed apartment a.k.a. Individualized Residential Alternative (IRA) for up to two individuals with developmental disabilities will be adjacent to one of three IRAs already existing at this address. The agency will provide recreational activities and programs planned for evenings and weekends. Each person living in the residence will attend day work program weekdays. There will be supervisory and residential staff on duty at all times when consumers are at home.

8:00 PM – 161-65 Woodruff Avenue, Apt. 2D, between East 21st Street and Clarkson/Flatbush Avenues

Residence Sponsor: Josephine E. Calder, Executive Director, Community Options, Inc., 718-940-8600

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011
Community Board 14 District Office
810 EAST 16TH STREET
(between Avenue H and the Railroad Dead End)
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

2 comments:

babs said...

This is the other address for the condo building at 353 Ocean Ave. Also note that there are already three such residences in this building. And what does this mean: "There will be supervisory and residential staff on duty at all times when consumers are at home." What consumers? The tenants of this apartment or their neighbors? I assume this means that in addition to the two occupants of the apartment there will be some sort of home health aide in the apartment. None of the apartments in the building are shown as owned by either Community Options or NYS, so does this mean that individual owners are renting out their apartments to them? Seems a very strange situation in any case, and this is part of the difference between co-ops and condos - in a co-op all rentals (if they are allowed at all) must be approved by the board, whereas in a condo the only provision is the right of first refusal, meaning that they condo association itself would have to rent the apartment from the owner at the same price offered by the potential tenant - not likely to happen. Also, Community Options' website (www.comop.org) lists 161-65 Woodruff as the site of their Brooklyn office, which I assume is then in one of the other 3 such apartments in the building. Very odd - any residents of 353 Ocean know anything about this?

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