Bronx Community Board 6 voted unanimously on May 27 to oppose rezoning for a project that would create 366 new affordable housing units in Crotona/West Farms and new homes for 91 existing households.
The multiyear project, proposed by the nonprofit Phipps Houses, would involve constructing a 159-unit building on an empty lot at East 181st St. and Crotona Parkway. This site is referred to in the application as the “Sojourner Truth site” because it previously housed a family shelter by that name, also operated by Phipps Houses, a nonprofit established in 1905 with affordable housing throughout the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Upon completion of the Sojourner Truth building, residents currently in Mapes Court, across the road at East 182nd St. and Southern Blvd. near the Bronx Zoo, would move in. The old Mapes building would then be demolished and rebuilt with nearly 300 permanently affordable units.
The project would require rezoning both the Sojourner Truth and Mapes sites to allow for higher construction and greater density.
If approved, the Sojourner Truth building would be between 8 and 15 stories, and the new Mapes building would be 6 to 14 stories. The existing Mapes Court is only five stories, but current zoning allows up to 14.
In addition to the building size changes, Phipps also applied to establish a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) area, a city rezoning tool that allows larger buildings in exchange for creating permanently affordable units priced for lower incomes.
Phipps Houses is one of the city’s largest nonprofit housing developers with 50 years of service within CB6. But that experience, rather than fostering residents’ trust, appeared to do the opposite.
Board members had already made up their minds before the vote, and many of the two dozen or so residents who attended quickly jumped against the project, even though at least two said they had not previously known about it. No one spoke in favor of the development.
Washington, accompanied by Director of Planning and Development Astrid Walker-Stewart, told the group that the project would “enhance the local community and create better housing than what’s on the site today.”
The new buildings would have laundry, gyms, bike rooms, concierges, children’s play areas, package lockers and other amenities, he said. The new Mapes building would also include a 15,000-square-foot community space that could become a childcare center, house of worship or similar facility.
The new buildings would also have a significant percentage of family-sized units and be deeply affordable. The Sojourner building would have 99 2- and 3-bedroom units, out of 159 total, and the Mapes building would have 162 out of 298 total. Both properties would include a small number of units for the formerly homeless and accommodate AMI ranges of 30-80%.
But residents and the board were not convinced, voicing concerns about local infrastructure capacity and the perceived lack of outreach by Phipps Houses staff to inform the community about the proposal. A few accused Phipps Houses of failing to inform Mapes residents and Bronx Zoo officials, which Washington said was not true.
“I know it’s just a deal to y’all,” said one resident during the public comment period. “To even think these buildings this high, this wide, this many apartments, or doors, as you call it, is a great idea, you’re completely not in touch with the neighborhood.”
Board members and residents also accused Phipps Houses of mishandling a similar project at Lambert Houses in 2016, where residents were relocated to a new building but their incomes were not properly recertified with the federal government. As a result, many were overcharged for rent and filed a class-action lawsuit that led to a settlement.
“They can’t live by their own principles,” one resident said of Phipps Houses’ record. “Right now, the math is not mathing, and it’s time for us to say stop. Do better.”
After the meeting, Washington told the Bronx Times that he was frustrated by not being allowed to respond to individual comments, instead having to wait to address them collectively. He also said he asked to present a slideshow at the meeting but was denied.
The board “was not interested in dialogue or conversation,” Washington said.
Nonetheless, with the rezoning application moving forward, Washington said he hopes to get the conversation rolling. “We’re not hiding,” he said. “We’re not afraid to answer any questions.”
Moving through the process
The board’s vote was decided well ahead of the meeting, as the CB6 Land Use committee had already met twice about the project and recommended that the full board oppose it.
Under the ULURP process, the board had from May 20 to July 20 to issue its vote. But it took less than a week of that period for them to reach a consensus and draft a letter imploring elected officials to join them in voting down the rezoning.
District Manager Rafael Moure-Punnett and Chairperson Evonne Capers issued a letter distributed at the meeting that outlined concerns about the project’s size and Phipps Houses’ track record in the neighborhood.
The May 27 letter to Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Council Member Oswald Feliz — who will cast their votes now that the board has weighed in — accused Phipps Houses of “unfulfilled promises” during the 2016 Lambert Houses rezoning, which made it an untrustworthy partner.
The letter also pointed to current conditions at Mapes Court, which currently has 62 open housing violations for defective locks, mice, roaches and more. Though Washington said the new project would improve living conditions for those residents, the board’s letter said that some tenants have had to sue just to get repairs in their existing building.
The board also expressed disappointment that the new homes would be entirely rentals. The Land Use committee had previously pushed for some units to be sold as condos, but that idea was not reflected in the final application, the letter said.
Lastly, the board questioned “the need for a rezoning at this location in particular,” saying the area has seen a 10.5% increase in housing units between 2010 and 2020. Council Member Feliz’s district ranks number one in the city for new affordable housing construction, approximately tripling the citywide average, according to the New York Housing Conference.
In the end, the board said Phipps Houses could still construct an eight-story building on the Sojourner Truth site without a rezoning, and recommended that they do just that. Phipps has “every right to build a building there, but not more than eight stories high,” the Land Use chairperson said at the meeting.
Still, the project is not dead because the board voted it down, nor would it be guaranteed if the board had approved.
The application will proceed through the nine-month ULURP process, going next to Gibson, Feliz and the rest of City Council, all of whom are likely to take the board’s vote into consideration.
Even if the full City Council ultimately votes no, Phipps Houses could appeal the decision to a panel consisting of the borough president, mayor and council speaker.
Walker-Stewart tried to assuage skepticism about the proposal and said any developer must go through extensive reviews with the Department of Transportation, Parks, City Planning, Environmental Protection and other agencies to determine that the project is safe and feasible.
“We don’t just propose a building, drop it in, without looking at impact,” she said, adding, “This project is not going to have any adverse impact on the surrounding area,” to which some attendees chuckled and said, “Really?”
Though the board’s 19 members present voted against him, Washington said he remains committed to engagement, especially because the project would likely take close to a decade. Even the project’s first phase, construction on the Sojourner Truth site, would probably be 5 years out, he said.
“We’ll go to a community board meeting anytime we’re invited,” he told attendees.
However, Moure-Punnett said in a statement to the Bronx Times that Phipps Houses already twice presented to the Land Use committee and that the project slideshow was distributed to attendees, as was his letter to elected officials.
“The Board did not unanimously vote to oppose this ULURP action due to a lack of information on the proposal. Rather, it was voted down based on the reasoning laid out in the Board’s letter opposing the project, which included longstanding concerns with Phipps Houses’ management practices,” he said.
Several board members also indicated they’d heard enough. “They make a point that they show up to all the meetings, but then they go home. We live here,” one said.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
