Huge Innovation QNS Rezoning Rejected By Board, But Battle Continues

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The enormous Innovation QNS development was rejected by Astoria's community board on Tuesday, as members said the five-block project needed more affordable housing to win residents' support.

The 24-8 vote came near the end of a four-hour meeting by Community Board 1, held Tuesday evening at Astoria World Manor. The non-binding vote serves only as a recommendation that the city reject the project, which will likely face a final vote in the City Council later this year.

"This is not affordable for our community," said board member Shahenaz Hamde before the vote. "This will not help us, this will harm us."

Containing more than a dozen new buildings and roughly 2,800 apartments, Innovation QNS has faced harsh opposition since it was first unveiled two years ago, with criticism largely centering on a lack of affordable units. Under the current plan, developers plan to include 711 affordable apartments with rents ranging from $715 to $3,306.

The $2 billion project, which would span between 37th Street and Northern Boulevard, bounded by 35th and 36th avenues, will now head to Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, whose office will have a month to review it before making its own recommendation.

It will then reach the City Planning Commission, whose approval would send Innovation QNS to the City Council for a climactic vote.

The board's no-vote comes despite a number of changes made to the plan by developers — a joint team of Silverstein Properties, Kaufman Astoria Studios and BedRock Real Estate Partners — in response to criticism.

They include replacing a proposed school with a community recreation center, withdrawing plans for big-box retail space, and moving the project's tallest buildings toward Northern Boulevard and away from Astoria's residential core.

Developers have also touted the project's other amenities, including two acres of green space, thousands of jobs, cultural venues, and an influx of housing as the city faces a desperate shortage.

Yet board members say developers have refused to bend on the main issue that has stoked opposition: a lack of affordable housing, which they fear will cause indirect displacement of longtime residents and businesses

"My fear with this: it will change the entire scope of Astoria," board member Katie Ellman said Tuesday. "I'm a third-generation Astorian, I can barely afford to live here now. How many of us will be pushed out?"

Some board members admitted to feeling conflicted about their vote. Huge Ma, the TurboVax founder and onetime Assembly candidate who now serves on CB1, said on Twitter before Tuesday's meeting that the project would add much-needed housing at all income levels — though he balked at the number of affordable units.

"Let's be clear: people are moving to Astoria!" Ma tweeted. "Do we build housing to accommodate new neighbors or sit tight as they bid up the price of existing housing?" (Ma ultimately voted against the rezoning, calling on developers to do better on affordability.)

Once it reaches the Council later this year, the fate of Innovation QNS may lie in the hands of local member Julie Won, whose colleagues will likely defer to her wishes when it comes to the final vote.

Won has not taken a formal stance on the project, though she has knocked the developers for inadequate outreach to neighbors and called on them to delay the project's certification — a request that was apparently rebuffed.

While some board members wanted Tuesday's no-vote to include formal recommendations about what changes they wanted to see, a motion to include that stipulation ultimately failed. Instead, the board will simply send to the city a document drafted in May that lays out some desired changes, including more affordable units and reduced density.

In a statement after the board's vote, an Innovation QNS spokesperson said developers had listened to the feedback.

"The City’s formal review process is designed to gather input from the public, and we’re glad to receive that input even as we continue to make the case that New York City – perhaps now more than ever – needs this $2 billion private investment that will create urgently needed mixed-income homes and 5,400 jobs, while generating hundreds of millions of dollars to support infrastructure, public safety, and education," the spokesperson said.

Related coverage:

• Despite Changes, Innovation QNS Voted Down By Astoria Board Committee
• Astoria's Innovation QNS Opponents, Supporters Clash At Public Hearing
• Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Face Opponents At Tense Town Hall
• Innovation QNS Rezoning Begins Review, Against Councilmember's Wishes
• Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Are Being Cagey, Pol Says