Three stories we have been following will be the subject of community meetings on the Lower East Side tonight. First, a fledgling group hoping to improve the dog run at Corlear’s Hook Park will hold an organizing meeting. It’ll take place at 6pm, at the dog run (the park is located at Cherry and Jackson streets).
Also, Community Board 3’s land use, housing and zoning committee will take up the fate of 400 Grand Street, a tenement building located on the SPURA redevelopment site. A resident of the buiding, Barry Chusid, believes the city turned 400 Grand over to residents to run as a cooperative a couple of years ago. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development disagrees, saying the building is a city owned property. Chusid wants CB3’s support in preventing 400 Grand’s demolition, in the event that the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area is ever developed.
The committee will also revisit a stalled residential construction site, 183 East Broadway. The Department of Buildings slapped a “stop work order” on the project in 2009, after finding the building was in violation of zoning restrictions limiting height and lot coverage. The owners are seeking a variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals. After scaling the building back to 7 stories, the developer sought CB3’s support. The community board has rejected those appeals on at least two occasions. But some members of CB3 say the owner was not at fault because the DOB erred in approving the building plans in the first place.
CB3’s land use, zoning and housing committee meets at 630pm tonight, at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street.
