A pedestrian walking through Bayside, Queens, might not think they were in New York City at all. Tall oak trees line streets dotted with mailboxes. Instead of bodegas and subway stops, it\u2019s mostly residential with mostly single-family homes with front lawns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara Gertel has lived here for 24 years. She wants the neighborhood to stay exactly how it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying to stick a building in our part of the world,\u201d she said while standing before her community board on Oct. 6. \u201cWell, I think we need to fight it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gertel isn\u2019t alone. She was among more than 450 residents filling Bayside High School\u2019s auditorium that night to overwhelmingly oppose an eight-story apartment complex proposed for 24th Avenue and Little Neck Boulevard. The project\u2019s developers \u2014 Barrone Management and Apex Development \u2014 presented their case at the nearly three-hour meeting filled with heckling and invocations of the Constitution from the listening Queens Community District 11 residents. Their most frequently voiced concern was that accepting the development would set a dangerous precedent that could forever change the neighborhood\u2019s aesthetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the board chair called Gertel to speak, she walked up to the microphone and stoically introduced herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are going to take a small area and build a huge structure,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s too much in one little area. Where are people going to park? There\u2019s barely parking now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the crowd. One man thrust into the air a large sign emblazoned with the words, \u201cWhere\u2019s the parking?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTraffic will be so much worse,\u201d Gertel continued. \u201cWe\u2019re zoned for one- to two-family houses for a reason, and we shouldn\u2019t change it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audience broke into a cheer. \u201cI agree with you!\u201d yelled an elderly woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All 18 residents who spoke that night said they staunchly opposed the 183-unit complex, including 128 market-rate, 55 rent-controlled and 65 senior-assisted-living units. One speaker even invoked the Constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe the people,\u201d \u2014 the applause was enthusiastic \u2014 \u201chave the right to stand up to this!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Residents cited many reasons for their opposition, such as the location \u2014 in a federally-designated<\/a> flood zone \u2014 limited parking, aesthetic concerns and fear of too much construction. The district includes Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Auburndale, Oakland Gardens and Hollis Hills, and it\u2019s zoned<\/a> mostly for single-family homes. As a result, the project would require a major zoning change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese developers don\u2019t understand that we just want to live in our suburb,\u201d said Paul Graziano, an urban planner and lifelong Little Neck resident. He criticized attempts to rezone District 11 and saw them as part of a wider wave of citywide changes ever since Mayor Eric Adams initiated his City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to maintain our high level of homeownership and quality of life,\u201d he added. Residents in the district own over 65%<\/a> of occupied housing units, whereas only 29.8% of occupied units in the city as a whole are owned instead of rented.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not against all new things,\u201d Graziano said. \u201cBut if we say yes to this complex, which clearly doesn\u2019t fit the community, it\u2019ll open a floodgate for overdevelopment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n During the meeting, developer Scott Barone emphasized that he is from Queens and is pursuing this project so that older residents like his mom can retain a place in the neighborhood as they age. Community District 11 has one of the oldest populations in the city, with more than 20%<\/a> of residents over 65. But as Barone presented his plan, residents yelled, \u201cabsolutely awful\u201d and \u201cwe like things the way they are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n