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Dec. 28, 2018–Jan. 3, 2019 including KINGS COURIER & FLATBUSH LIFE
SERVING BENSONHURST, BRIGHTON BEACH, CONEY ISLAND, GERRITSEN BEACH, KINGS HIGHWAY, MANHATTAN BEACH, MIDWOOD, & SHEEPSHEAD BAY
NOW OPEN: The housing lottery for dozens of below-market-rate units
inside Coney Island’s forthcoming Surf Vets Place development opened
to eligible locals on Dec. 27. Concern for Independent Living
AFFORDABLE
CONEY UNITS
UP FOR GRABS
Housing lottery opens at new complex Holiday heroes!
United States Marine Sgt. Luis Sanchez joined locals at the headquarters of the 41st Assembly District
Democrats Club to help member and former Sheepshead Bay Councilman Lew Fidler wrap up toys collected
as part of the club’s annual year-end drive. For more, see page 6. Photo by Steve Solomonson
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
There’s no place like a new
home for the holidays!
Eligible locals can now apply
for dozens of below-market
rate units inside a new
Coney Island building via the
city’s housing lottery, which
started accepting requests on
Dec. 27.
Builders of the in-progress,
mixed-use Surf Vets Place
complex on W. 21st Street
near Surf Avenue set aside 52
units inside it for locals making
between 50 and 60 percent
of the area median income,
who can submit online applications
for the apartments
through March 4 once the lottery
opens.
Twenty-four of the apartments
will be set aside for
residents who earn 50 percent
of the area median income,
which is $41,750 for a two-person
household or $52,150 for
a four-person household, according
to city data .
The other 28 units are for
locals making 60 percent of the
area median income, which
data shows is $50,100 for a twoperson
household or $62,580
for a four-person household.
Following the application
period, the housing-lottery
system will randomly choose
occupants based on eligibility
and individuals whose requests
the city prioritizes,
such as people with disabilities
and municipal employees.
Locals may not hear back
about the status of their requests
for up to 10 months following
the close of the application
period, if they hear back
at all, according to offi cials
with the Department of Housing
Preservation and Develop-
Continued on page 12
Beep pans Surf Ave rezoning
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The city must reject a developer’s
request to upzone a
block of Surf Avenue in Coney
Island because the rezoning
will likely displace too many
locals, according to the beep.
“Given the number of units
that would be directly and indirectly
displaced by the proposed
development, and in
absence of a legally-binding
satisfactory tenant relocation
plan, the requested rezoning
results in too much displacement
and uncertainty,” Borough
President Adams said.
Developer Winiarski Entities
— run by father David
and brothers Nativ and Ronny
Winiarski — earlier this year
fi led an application to upzone
Surf Avenue between W. 22nd
and W. 23rd streets to allow
for the construction of sixto
10-story buildings in line
with those that can rise in
the nearby Special Coney Island
District the city rezoned
back in 2009.
The builder currently
owns fi ve plots on the block —
an empty lot and four buildings
containing dozens of
apartments between them.
But the Winiarskis want
to demolish their already
standing structures to make
way for a new mixed-use development
with some belowmarket
rate housing on their
fi ve lots, forcing residents of
units in their four buildings
to fi nd new homes.
And the developers have
yet to legally promise to relocate
tenants of those apartments
to other similarly
priced units in the neighborhood
or elsewhere, according
to Adams, who said residents
of some 37 units — 15 of which
are rent regulated, and 22 of
Continued on page 12
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