Elmhurst Target's Fate Rests With City Zoning Board

ELMHURST, QUEENS — Local activists' battle against a Target under construction in Elmhurst will come to a head Tuesday when the city's Board of Standards and Appeals will consider whether the store violates zoning code.

Grassroots group Queens Neighborhoods United hopes to convince the powerful, five-member land use board that a proposed 82nd Street Target, part of a two-story commercial complex, goes against neighborhood zoning rules.

Those rules say stores in the area must serve "local consumer needs." They also cap the size of variety stores, like Target, at 10,000 square feet.

What the zoning code doesn't say — explicitly, at least — is what can happen underground. Target's store at 40-31 82nd St. would be about 23,000 square feet, but the space is split between the ground floor and a cellar.

Members of Queens Neighborhoods United say Target's floor plan exploits this loophole. The group will argue Tuesday that the 10,000-square-foot size limit still applies below ground.

Target maintains that its plan follows the zoning code.

"We have worked through the development process to ensure that we conform with all local zoning rules and planning guidelines," a Target spokesman said in a statement.

City Council Member Francisco Moya, who represents Elmhurst, disagrees.

"At its most fundamental level, zoning regulations exist to protect the well-being of communities and the people who live there," he said in a statement. "These zoning rules are in place to prevent massive big-box corporation like Target from doing exactly this."

Developers Sun Equity Partners and Heskel Group originally proposed a 13-story, mixed-use building at the site. Moya backed the rezoning that would've allowed the building to go up, after the developers agreed to designate 42 of 120 planned apartments as "affordable" for low-income tenants.

But the developers shelved the plans following opposition from Queens Neighborhoods United and other community activists.

This grassroots coalition, which includes Desis Rising Up and Moving (or DRUM) and Chhaya CDC, has since doubled down on efforts to push out Target.

Activists asked about 150 local residents what they would want to see at the 82nd Street lot. A park was the overwhelming answer, according to Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, a member of Queens Neighborhoods United.

Kaufman-Gutierrez said she fears the Target will raise rent prices, forcing small business owners — many of whom are working-class immigrants — to close up shop.

"It’s a death sentence for them," she said.