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Volume XX • Number 46 • November 14 - 20, 2013 •
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Locals express opinions on Montefiore bldg. By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Opponents of a planned development turned out in force at last week’s Community Board 8 land use committee meeting, an emotionally charged event that drew record-breaking attendance. Angry neighbors and persuasive elected officials were able to convince representatives from Montefiore Medical Center and developer Simone Management to rethink the scope of a proposed 93,000-square-foot “one-stop shopping” medical facility on Riverdale Avenue near West 238th Street. The planned 11-story building would extend through to Oxford Avenue—a curved street on a hill—where a driveway entrance to a parking garage was sited. Congestion, traffic, pollution, lowered property values, decreased privacy to surrounding buildings, increased competition for long-established doctors in the area and failure to consult with the community were among the potential concerns raised. Attorney Jeffrey A. Moerdler, representing Simone, explained that while the project is as of right and technically doesn’t require board approval, the developer voluntarily approached the land use committee to seek community response. Simone’s presentation described a state-of-the-art facility that will attract up to a thousand people each day for outpatient services in a variety of specialties, including diagnostic radiology. “Having a facility like this will probably be a good thing for the community,” Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said. “But the devil is in the details.” The capacity of the building, with eight floors of medical offices, and increased traffic and parking were his greatest concerns. He pressed for a smaller facility with offsite parking for staff, who could be accommodated with a shuttle. “I believe it’s just too big,” he said. “I’m not saying don’t build this thing. Make it so that the community will actually like it, use it, and consider it an asset, not a blight.” Councilman G. Oliver Koppell had stronger objections. “I think this project is completely out of scale,” he said. “This is not Manhattan, it’s not White Plains. This is a huge project that is completely out
of place. Furthermore, it’s not needed in this community. It’s a project that might go well in the middle of a heavily developed area, but that’s not Riverdale,” he said, inspiring a healthy round of applause. Community speakers, including local doctors, questioned the developer’s assumption that the area is underserved in terms of medical care—there are already many well-established medical practices here that would in fact be forced to compete with an infusion of new practices. They also pointed out that Montefiore Medical Center itself, with its wealth of medical resources, is only a few miles away. In response to concern about the Montefiore medical office at 3510 Johnson Avenue, Dr. Andrew D. Racine, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore, said that the group might move its location to
the Riverdale Avenue building. Demolition for the new building has begun, but those who live within dust-flying distance called for a halt to the work until the entire plan is revised. The two buildings that occupied the site at 3741 and 3735 Riverdale Avenue are already gone, and a house at 3644 Oxford will be taken down when work resumes. After a number of impassioned speeches, land use committee chair Charles Moerdler attempted to intervene. “The Montefiore people have agreed to go back to the drawing board and to come back to us in a month,” he said, having consulted with the group. “Now hold your fire—they’ve heard you. You’ve made your voices loud and clear.” But others who came prepared to voice their opposition were determined to be heard. Spontaneously advocating on their
behalf was Councilman Koppell, who exercised his authority, as a member of the board by law, to insist that anyone who wanted to speak should be given the floor. “People want to express themselves,” he said, giving way to a few more speakers. In response to concerns about patients crowding into the area from Manhattan and elsewhere, attorney Jeffrey Moerdler said that the catchment area is expected to extend only one or two miles from the site. He explained that a small takeout café in the facility will not be a restaurant—it will be place where patients who have been fasting in advance of medical tests “can get a simple bite to eat” once the tests are done. “We requested this meeting,” he emphasized. “Plans have not been completed for the project. It’s still in the design phase. It’s evolving. We wanted to have
some dialogue to get some feedback. After tonight, we will consider what we’ve heard here and we will see whether it’s feasible to accommodate you.” On the following Sunday, Senator Jeffrey Klein and other elected officials visited Tom Pantazis, whose brick multifamily home borders the construction area on Oxford Avenue. The Pantazises’ main concerns are the destructive effects of blasting and the proposed location of the driveway. They are not opposed to having something “good for the neighborhood” developed next to the family home. A tenant who has been living happily there for seven years said he’s planning to vacate because of the project, leaving Pantazis without the rental income he depends upon. David Wigder, a board member Continued on Page 7
Congressman Eliot Engel (3rd from right, front row,) Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (to his right) and Councilman-elect Andrew Cohen (center) join with veterans and Girl Scouts at the Sunday Memorial Grove 7th annual Veterans Day remembrance in Van Cortlandt Park. Rep. Engel spoke of the need to remember our veterans and his work in Washington to get them the help they need when they return from foreign wars.