Information about this lot
Political Boundaries
Why is this lot here?
We think this lot is vacant because:
Government Agency
Housing Preservation and Development is not granting interim licenses now. The only way to have the community access this lot is by getting it transferred to another agency. Look below for Pathways that will guide you.
You can call Mr. Weinstein at the number listed above and find out if there are any plans for this lot. He's the Director of Planning for HPD in the Bronx. It's best to call him on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Pathways
News feed
I visited the lovely Parks Committee of Bronx Community Board 3 last Wednesday evening to share info about 596 Acres work, our publication A New York City Advocate's Guide to Land Access (http://www.596acres.org/news/2014/05/06/introducing-a-new-york-city-advocates-guide-to-community-land-access/), and a district-specific map (http://www.596acres.org/en/about/596-acres-archive/). I learned that if a group of neighbors is interested in creating a campaign to get access to a space and wants the support of the board, they should call the office and be connected with the folks on the Parks Committee. The committee alone believes they would have the power to write a letter of support - they would just need to check in with the City themselves and think about how realistic and imminent development is. Overall, this committee seemed frustrated with the lack of transparency from the City when it comes to how they plan to use public land and would love to see more community open space.
This site was included in a list of sites that developers are being asked to apply to build housing on by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. (see http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/developers/NIHOP-NCP-RFQ.shtml).
The list was published on January 14, 2015 and developers' responses are due on February 20, 2015. The fact that this site was included DOES NOT necessarily mean that housing will be developed here, but it does me that HPD is encouraging housing development and is not likely to consider other uses for the time being. If no one applies for this site, it may again be available in March!
The list and RFQ are products of HPD, under the direction of the Mayor's office. Development is not certain - this is simply a request for developers to apply to become qualified to build in these sites.
This site has been slated for the "homeownership"' program:
1-4 unit homeownership OR
up to 14 unit coop program
with a preference given to developers who propose to have 1/3 of the units going to people making 80-90% of the Area Median Income (AMI; about average income for New Yorkers) and the rest being market-rate or affordable to those making more.
This article sums things up pretty well (and has the voices of folks from across the 596 Acres network): http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150116/morningside-heights/community-gardens-threatened-by-de-blasios-affordable-housing-plan
You can let your City Council member, the mayor's office and HPD know if you have feedback about the program or the selection of this site.