Community Board No. 2 43-22 50th Street, 2nd Floor Woodside, New York 11377 1 533Denise Fax (718) 533-8777 Chairwoman Melinda Katz Email qn02@cb.nyc.gov Debra Markell Kleinert Queens Borough President District Manager July 29, 2019 Ms. Marisa Lago Director NYC Department of City Planning Calendar Information Office 120 Broadway, 31St Fl. New York, NY 10271 Re: Applic. No. ZSQ 22-44 Jackson Avenue Block 86, Lot 1 R7-3 District Special Long Island City Mixed Use District (Queens Plaza Subdistrict, Area C) Borough of Queens Community District 2 Dear Ms. Lago: In the Application for Minor Modification for 22-44 Jackson Avenue ?5 Pointz?, the developer is seeking approval by the Department of City Planning to legalize the changes made to the building construction from the original Special Permit and drawings approved by the Department of Buildings in 2013. The original Special Permit allowed an increase from 5 to 8 FAR and proposed to construct two towers 41 and 47 stories with 1000 housing units. In the original special permit this was an increase of 372 units from what would have been allowed ?as of right? (as of right would have been 628 units, approved special permit was 1000 units in the 2 buildings). This current Application for Minor Modi?cation further increases the number of housing units by 112, essentially 30% more units than were originally permitted without a special permit or other legal maneuver. We do not consider this change ?minor?. The developer has sought every way to thwart Community Board review. The Application for Minor Modification was certified by the Department of City Planning (the Department of City Planning notification to Community Board 2 with Application and attachments was dated June 7th and received by the Community Board on June after the June full Community Board Meeting, which is the last meeting until September. The Community Board review period is 45 days, so any response by the Board would preclude consideration of the materials at a regularly scheduled full Board Meeting. ?Serving the Communities of Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside and Maspeth" The developer and legal counsel did attend the June 20?h Land Use Committee Meeting and at that meeting, members posed a number of questions regarding the Application. The Applicant indicated they would respond asap. Mr. Wolkoff subsequently called the Board office and requested to meet with Ms. Keehan-Smith and Ms. Deller. At that meeting we requested he provide clarification of the items we had requested at the Land Use Meeting. By July 19nd no response had been received by the Board and as such, the Chair, Ms. Keehan-Smith sent an email requesting their response by July On Friday, July 26th at 3:45 PM a letter of response was received at the Board office. With the Community Board comments due to the Department of City Planning on July 29th and only two summer weekend days for the Board to discuss, this timing exhibits an artful manipulation of the rules to inhibit any further Community review within the required timeframe. Given that neither the Land Use Committee nor the full Community Board has had an opportunity to discuss the developer?s response, we hereby submit our response to deny approval of the Application. Chairwoman, CBZ Queens Denise eehan- Smith Lisa Deller, Chairwoman, Land Use Committee, CBZ Queens Cc: Honorable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Congress Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney, US Congress Honorable Grace Meng, US Congress Honorable Nydia M. Velazquez, US Congress Honorable Michael Gianaris, NY State Senate Honorable Brian Barnwell, NYS Assembly Honorable Catherine T. Nolan, NYS Assembly Honorable Robert Holden, NYC Council Member Honorable Jimmy Van Bramer, NYC Council Member Honorable Daniel Dromm, NYC Council Member Honorable Melinda Katz, Queens Borough President of the Borough of Queens Honorable Sharon Lee, Deputy Borough President Irving Poy, Queens Borough President?s Office John Young, Department of City Planning Alexis Wheeler, Department of City Planning