STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It was an emotional, fiery affair at a Community Board 3 meeting on Tuesday, as Great Kills residents and one state elected official confronted a local developer over a project that would not have been possible if not for the City of Yes.
The exchange centered around plans to demolish an existing single-family home on the corner of Oakdale Street and Ramblewood Avenue and build five, two-family homes in its place.
The project, which would not have been permitted in past years, is now legal due to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning text amendments, which loosened some restrictions on what can be developed where, including permitting high-density development in transit hubs and town centers, in an effort to create more housing across the city.
State Sen. Andrew Lanza, a Republican who represents Staten Island, kicked off the discussion by highlighting his past efforts on the City Council to downzone the South Shore in an attempt to prevent overdevelopment.
“I thought if I had left office then, after we did the last [downzoning], that I’d have this wonderful legacy and never have to look back. I really never imagined that something this disgusting, this offensive and this anti-democratic would happen. But here we are. And so that’s what I’m talking about. The City of Yes is a mess,” Lanza said.
“The same people from a certain party that care about saying they care about diversity don’t believe in the diversity of neighborhoods. I love that New York City has the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but I also love that we have the front yards, backyards and trees and parts of Staten Island and they ought to respect that,” he added.
The senator went on to address Christopher Stout, a New York City developer who owns the Oakdale Street property, arguing that just because the law permits the project, doesn’t mean he should move forward with it if it’s overwhelmingly opposed by the community.
Christopher Stout, a local developer, listens as residents express their concerns during a Community Board 3 meeting about his plans to demolish a single-family home located at the corner of Oakdale Street and Ramblewood Avenue in Great Kills and construct five two-family homes on the lot. The meeting was held at the CYO MIV Center at Mount Loretto, in Pleasant Plains on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Owen Reiter
Stout, who grew up in the Great Kills neighborhood where the project is located, noted that there are already several semi-detached homes in the neighborhood, including the one he was raised in.
He also emphasized the City of Yes zoning changes only allow these types of density increases at a select number of Staten Island sites that meet specific requirements in an effort to ease fears that the entire neighborhood would be “overdeveloped” overnight.
“It’s only about 150 properties that this could happen to and that would mean that tomorrow 150 people would have to sell their homes. It will not happen. So if you were to take this zoning and say everything that’s allowed arrives tomorrow, that would be a big problem,” said Stout.
He also noted that under the new City of Yes rules, he could have elected to build a small apartment building at the location, but opted for townhouses to keep the property more in line with the rest of the neighborhood.
Stout also argued that if local builders don’t develop these types of properties, builders from other boroughs, with less concern for the existing neighborhood, would swoop in to build apartments.
“If we were to do the impossible and say no builders on Staten Island are going to do these projects, which would never happen, we got 100% of the people to say we’re not doing it, you know what’s going to happen? A developer from Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx is going to come in and absolutely develop it,” Stout said.
“All the other borough developers are used to building apartment buildings. It will come before your eyes if you make all the Staten Island developers say we’re not doing it,” he added.
Residents in attendance did not appear moved by Stout’s testimony, with several taking the mic to voice their concerns about how the project would impact the character and safety of their neighborhood.
“Replacing a single-family home with housing for 10 families drastically changes the dynamics of our street. Ten new families could easily introduce 20 or more additional vehicles, increased traffic, noise and congestion. With that level of density, how can we maintain the same level of safety for our children,” said one resident. “How can I feel confident letting my kids continue to play outside the way that they do today?”
“This fight is not about me because I’m 51 years old and I’ve lived a life. This fight is about my children and their children… This is for my grandchildren. They’re going to come here…and they’re going to have an opportunity, hopefully, to live in a community that’s close,” said another. “The bottom line here, in my mind, is greed.”
Greed was a common aspersion cast toward Stout throughout the meeting, with one resident going so far as to say, “If you were my son, what I would say to you to do, I would say you need to make a decision based on integrity, not money.”
A police officer directs a member of the audience to leave a Community Board 3 meeting attended by residents opposed to a local developer’s plans to demolish a one-family home on the corner of Oakdale Street and Ramblewood Avenue in Great Kills and construct five two-family homes on the lot. The meeting was held at the CYO MIV Center at Mount Loretto, in Pleasant Plains on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Owen Reiter
The meeting became heated at times, with members of the crowd shouting over each other at various points, community board officials needing to rein in the discussion and one resident needing to be escorted out following an outburst.
Despite all the commotion, the Department of Buildings has already approved an application to reallocate the existing one zoning lot and one tax lot into one zoning lot and five tax lots, paving the way for the project to move forward.
And while Stout previously scrapped plans for a similar project on Uncas Avenue in response to community pushback, he has told the Advance/SILive.com he has no plans to reverse course on this project.