PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Alice Barrett Mitchell, Resident of Dittlers Park
3:32:44
·
123 sec
Alice Barrett Mitchell, a long-time resident of Dittlers Park, testifies in opposition to the plan to rezone Beverly Road for 3 to 5 story apartment buildings. She argues that this rezoning would negatively impact the unique character and quality of life in her neighborhood.
- Mitchell emphasizes the area's Victorian homes, architectural continuity, and green spaces as valuable assets.
- She points out existing development and congestion issues in the neighborhood.
- Mitchell urges the city council to exempt the Victorian Flatbush Neighborhoods from the proposed rezoning, citing the 2009 Flatbush rezoning as already providing ample opportunities for multifamily housing near transit.
Alice Barrett Mitchell
3:32:44
My name is Alice Barrett Mitchell, and I am a 31 year resident of Diddlers Park.
3:32:48
I am speaking today in opposition to the plan to rezone Beverly Road to allow 3 to 5 storey apartment buildings because it is half a mile of a subway station.
3:32:57
Our neighborhood is unique and that there are 3 subway stations with within four blocks of one another.
3:33:03
Church Avenue, Beverly Road, and Quetalia Road.
3:33:05
What distinguishes Beverly Road from the other thoroughfares, however, is that it is not a commercial strip.
3:33:11
It is lined with freestanding Victorian homes, most with front porches and gardens.
3:33:16
This area provides architectural and aesthetic continuity between Dittmann's Park And Prospect Park South, the Landmark area which also borders Beverly Road.
3:33:25
Much of the neighborhood has already been rezoned to allow for apartment buildings, most notably Coney Island Avenue.
3:33:31
Undue building is currently under construction on the corner of Kony Island in Beverly.
3:33:35
That is to be 11 stories high and a full block long directly across the street from it.
3:33:40
A fourteen story building is proposed.
3:33:43
The point is there is considerable construction already underway in the neighborhood.
3:33:47
Beverly Road is gridlocked most hours of the day.
3:33:50
The turn on Ocean Parkway onto Beverly Road is so congested that it can take as many as 4 lights to make the turn.
3:33:56
City of Yes also lifts mandatory parking mandates in new buildings, given the current dearth of parking availability in the neighborhood.
3:34:03
This is untenable.
3:34:05
The 2009 Flatbush rezoning allows for ample multifamily housing near transit including mandatory, inclusionary housing, given all of the availability in the neighborhood to take the 4 block strip of freestanding homes, which lends the area its sense of cohesion, feels gratuitous.
3:34:23
The residents of the neighborhood take pleasure in the Greenslake Prospect Park South And Dittmann Park provide.
3:34:28
The neighborhood has tree lined streets and beautiful flower gardens.
3:34:32
As we learned during the pandemic, quality of life is immeasurably enhanced by the comfort of grass.
3:34:38
Trees, and birdsong.
3:34:39
It is for this reason that I strongly urge the city council to carve out the Victorian Flatbush Neighborhoods involved in the 2009 rezoning.
