GREAT KILLS, Staten Island (WABC) — With trees, lawns and single-family homes in Great Kills, Staten Island, it’s a corner of the city that looks more like Nassau County.
It’s why many people moved to Staten Island and why others never left. But some residents are worried.
“This is a quiet neighborhood. Blue-collar, middle-class neighborhood, right? We have a school four blocks away, I’m raising a family here,” resident Eric Diez said.
Diez lives around the corner from 104 Oakdale Street, where he says the homeowner has approvals to demolish the house and build five new ones on the same lot.
“You put five homes on top of this? It changes, changes everything,” Diez said.
The citywide zoning changes were signed into law last year, part of Mayor Eric Adams’ affordable housing initative known as the City of Yes.
“We’re going to give homeowners more flexibility to use their own property as they wish, by legalizing backyard cottages, converted garages and basement apartments,” Adams said.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella sued the city and lost. Eyewitness News asked Fossella whether the city has an affordable housing crisis.
“If there are areas and parts of the city that welcome it and want it, so be it. But don’t do it at the expense of destroying neighborhoods that have been here. Some folks have been living in their house for generations,” Fossella said.
Mark Balistreri lives in 104 Oakdale. He says the actual plan is to build two, two-family homes.
“People need places to live, and they need affordable places to live. And this will allow that to happen,” Balistreri said.
Kathryn Wylde leads Partnerships for New York City, which is the city’s largest business group.
“We’ve got to solve this problem, and the only way to do that is to increase supply and grow our tax base so we can afford to subsidize the housing for those who can’t afford market rents,” Wylde said.
Public pressure recently caused one developer to scrap his plans to build five homes on a single quarter-acre lot. If neighbors can’t get the zoning changes they want and they can’t win in court, public pushback may be their only option to say no to the City of Yes.
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