Bronx residents raising funds to undo contentious Throggs Neck rezoning

Throggs Neck residents – furious over a City Council turnaround that opened the door to a development they say will change the fabric of their neighborhood — are crowdfunding a legal challenge.

The Bronx Coalition Against Upzoning has raised $43,000 in an effort to turn back the plan. They expect to file a legal challenge within the next several weeks.

The rezoning plan approved by the council made way for four new buildings, at least one eight stories tall, in the suburban-looking neighborhood lined with single-family homes and a 100-year-old Catholic Church.

The construction will include 349 new apartments – nearly 50 percent income-restricted – and replace an existing Super Foodtown owned by one of the developers with a new grocery store and a 190-car parking garage.

The project took a dramatic turn two weeks ago when local Council member Marjorie Velázquez, who had opposed the project even before taking office, flipped her position just hours before a crucial vote. The plan was backed by Mayor Adams, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) and housing activists.

“What Councilwoman Velázquez just did is going to change the future of our neighborhood because she set a precedent,” John Cerini, a local business owner and former candidate for Council District 13, told The News. “Developers are going to have a field day with our community…It’s going to spread like a virus.”

Cerini, who hired an attorney to appeal of the Court’s decision, fears the rezoning will overcrowd the neighborhood, straining local schools and roadways. Cerini expects local residential property values will plummet.

“We’re going to end up being crushed in our quality of life,” he said. “Why are New York City residents forced to leave the city to go to Dutchess and Putnam and Orange County to get a small piece of land?”

Throggs Neck has a unique identity in the Bronx. Its proportion of white residents is three times the borough’s average, Census and NYU Furman data shows. Its voters had a strong preference last year for Curtis Sliwa, the GOP mayoral candidate who ran against Adams. And its median household income is $20,000 higher than the Bronx average.

Throggs Neck is the least dense neighborhood in the Bronx, with just 12 residents per square mile, according to NYU Furman and Census data. In comparison, Kingsbridge Heights has 97 residents per square mile.

Lessie Branch, the director of programs for Citizens Committee for New York City, believes the rezoning goign through follows a pattern of progressive Council members reversing historic precedents in their districts.

“The white, right-leaning folks in the Throggs Neck area were not able to stave off collective action among those who are working toward affordable housing,” Branch told The News.

Mayor Adams said the rezoning will bring much-needed affordable housing to a district that has only produced 58 income-restricted apartments since 2014. The neighboring district, encompassing Soundview and Castle Hill, has produced 1,345 income-restricted apartments in comparison, according to New York Housing Conference data.

Other proponents of the rezoning see it as a resource for the borough’s most vulnerable residents.

“This development will meet a clear and longstanding need in the Bronx: providing housing to those who need it most and alleviating a severe lack of affordable housing in the borough,” Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All, told The News.

The developers forged an agreement to earmark 121 apartments for low-income seniors and veterans. The Bronx has the highest senior poverty rate in the city – three times the national average, according to NYU Furman and Census data.

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But the details of those earmarked apartments are still murky.

“We know nothing still about the agreement between the City Council and the developers,” Matthew Cruz, district manager of local Community Board 10, told The News. “We aren’t certain of the senior housing, much less the income-restricted units.”

Council member Velázquez told the News that she negotiated for 25 units to be earmarked for veterans shortly before the Council’s vote. Velázquez said the city had committed to making those units affordable through rental assistance vouchers.

“I wanted to make sure my seniors and my veterans were protected,” she said.

A spokesperson for the developers told The News that only 22 privately financed units were earmarked for veterans. He did not reply to a request for comment about which vouchers would be used or whether the city had formally committed to providing them.

Despite including some senior and veteran housing, it still isn’t enough to get Throggs Neck residents on board.

“That’s just the little carrot at the end of the stick for the horse to keep on walking,” Robert Jaen, the executive director of the Throggs Neck Business Improvement District, told The News. “As a citizen, I’m sick over this.”