News From Broad Channel Civic

By Dan Guarino



Broad Channel Civic Association President Dan Mundy Jr. has announced updates on several issues affecting the island community.

In the most recent Civic Association newsletter, he noted the Build It Back Program has “instituted a number of major changes at city agencies to allow the design and permit process to move quicker. The zoning amendment change, which allows our old Broad Channel homes that don't comply with zoning maps to now be grandfathered in, was a big game changer and was the fastest zoning change ever instituted in the city's history.

In addition,” he said, “DOT street map issues have been resolved with a waiver for those rebuilding or elevating.

“Finally the SBA loan issue, where you applied for the loan and were approved but did not take the loan, is now no longer being counted as a benefit against the applicant. Tishman Construction has now been brought on and the program's capacity will be greatly increased with the addition of this very large construction firm.”



Mundy thanked Borough President Melinda Katz and Dan Brown from her office for the monthly Task Force meetings that they have been holding with representatives from Broad Channel and the various agencies involved.

“These meetings and oversight have been the single biggest reason for the many changes that have been brought to the program as well as a sense of accountability to our neighborhoods for progress!”

Another area of community concern Mundy addressed was the bike lanes along Cross Bay Boulevard and elsewhere.

“The Civic has received many complaints from parents about the state of the bike lanes in Broad Channel. Many areas…see the markings totally disappear and bikers find themselves in the first lane of traffic with no protection from cars.”



He stated that with the help of Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder’s office, they have been able to work with the Department of Transportation to resolve this issue.

He writes that the DOT has already started to repaint the lines and markings and has fully committed to completing this work throughout the entire neighborhood.

Just to the west of the Cross Bay Bridge toll plaza sits NYC Parks’ American Ballfield. Previously the site of the Broad Channel Baths swimming complex and later the Broad Channel Day Camp, may people now enjoy its baseball fields, ball courts and small strip of beach for fishing.

But as Mundy commented, “the parking lot has been a flooded mess every time it rains for the last decade. Numerous attempts to have it addressed have been unsuccessful with part of the problem being the overlapping jurisdictions, with DEP, DOT and NYC Parks all owning part of it.

“I am happy to report,” he says, “that it seems the Civic, working with the Broad Channel Athletic Club, have developed a possible remedy which should be in place shortly.”

Part of that remedy involves the construction firm currently under contract with the city to raise several flood prone streets along the west side of the island.

Mundy noted “The contractor who is performing the streetraising project will use a portion of the [ballfield’s] parking lot…and in return will pave the pot holes and install a drain and pump system to address the flooding.

The agreement requires that the town have access at all times to the main parking lot…near the fields, that the work be completed before they are allowed to use the lot and that all of their construction vehicles avoid using 20th Road so as not to impact residents on that block.”

According to Mundy, Councilman Eric Ulrich and Katz were “instrumental in pushing the agencies to agree to this after we initially hit major road blocks.”

The Broad Channel Civic Association, established in 1921, works closely with agencies and officials at the city, state and federal level in representing the tight-knit community.

There is a general meeting, open to all, on the fourth Thursday of every month, at the VFW Hall at 705 Shad Creek Road in Broad Channel.