The I-95 interchange to-be improved. Schneps Media/Alex Mitchell
Rendering of Blondell Commons. File Photo
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR ANUARY 4-10, 2019 57
Blondell Commons
rezoning meeting
From page 1 used to store vehicles, developers
on the third fl oor, as well as
combined indoor and outdoor
community space on the second
and third fl oors.
Blondell Equities prefers
to lease the 19,000 square feet
of commercial space to one
tenant, they said.
For the project to move
forward, the proposed site requires
a zoning change from
M1-1 to R7A with inclusion of
a commercial overlay.
According to the developers,
this project has been in
the works for a decade, slowed
down by issues of unmapped
streets in its immediate surrounding
area that date back
to when the Bronx was a part
of Westchester County.
The proposal includes the
demapping of a portion of
Fink Avenue and Ponton Avenue
from Blondell Avenue
east to Waters Avenue and
Cooper Avenue, from Westchster
Avenue to Fink Avenue.
The mostly vacant parcel
was formerly an automobile
junk yard and is currently
said. There are also
three structures fronting
Blondell Avenue that will be
demolished: two frame houses
and a warehouse that was formerly
occupied by Caveman
Cycles.
The Westchester Square
Business District is not opposed
to the project, said John
Bonizio, the BID’s chairman,
adding that the developer’s
commitment to include
parking that would be (partially)
available to the public
weighted heavily in the BID’s
support.
“The BID is not opposed
to it because of the parking
component and because we
believe there is a need for affordable
housing throughout
the district and throughout
the Bronx,” he said. “This is a
better use for the land then its
present use,” the chairman
added.
Bonizio also said that a
‘large-scale’ project like this
proposal could eventually
open up more of Blondell Avenue,
which is currently zoned
for industrial purposes and
used heavily for automotive
purposes, for future residential
development.
Not everyone in attendance
supported the plan.
Sandi Lusk, the director
of Westchester Square-Zerega
Improvement Organization
cited traffi c and congestion
as her two biggest concerns
about Blondell Commons
during the ULURP hearing,
pointedly saying that “having
delivery trucks and schools
busses on Blondell Avenue
will only worsen the already
congested Westchester
Square”.
Also opposing the Blondell
development was Michele Torrioni,
president of the Pelham
Bay Tax Payers Association.
She complained that this
kind of development is unfi t
for the area, blasting it “as
out of place as a UFO landing
in Central Park.”
The developers of Blondell
Commons, which is located
on the border of Community
11, plan to meet with CB 10 on
Monday, January 7.
I-95 south, alleviating the traffi
c that is forced on St. Paul
and other Pelham Bay streets
by drivers trying to access I-95
South entrance at Buhre Avenue.
Motorists will be able to
stay on the parkway and make
a left turn at a traffi c light controlled
intersection, onto a I-95
entrance ramp shared with
Pelham Parkway West travellers.
NYSDOT also plans to add
bicycle and pedestrian paths
to “mitigate impacts and to
create a benefi t to the community.”
Part of those benefi ts will
be a collaborative effort with
NYC Department of Parks to
install new, informational signage
around the Bronx Victory
Memorial, a World War I
Memorial, that will increase
the visibility of the statue to
more passersby.
The improvements do not
require any new large-scale
infrastructure changes, but
uses existing underutilized
areas near the roadways and a
State reveals ‘backup’ plan;
I-95 North improvements to end bottleneck
From page 1
new extended on-ramp to create
new traffi c patterns for the
area. The new I-95 ramp will
impinge slightly on the memorial’s
grove.
“This is major,” said the assemblyman.
“It is fully funded,
there is no new infrastructure
construction in this plan, and
therefore, the contractor will
be able to complete the improvements
in a timely manner.”
A major re-construction
of the highway would have
driven the cost to over $100
million and taken 10 to 15
years to build.
While improving traffi c
fl ow is an obvious reason for
the state to move forward with
the project, increasing safety
is another priority.
NYSDOT believes that reducing
the amount of ramps
in the entangled interchange
will decrease both pedestrian
and vehicular confl icts on and
around I-95.
The project’s design will
be available for public review
during January and February
at Bronx Borough hall, Community
Board 10, Baychester
Library, Pelham Bay Library
and P.S. 160.