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February 18, 2010
Brutally weird: In New Jersey hometown, FCR executive fights zoning variances, claims Brooklyn projects are "as of right"
Atlantic Yards Report
More coverage of Forest City Ratner EVP Bob Sanna's NIMBY crusade to stop a 16,000-square-foot synagogue from being built in his New Jersey town at the same time Forest City is gearing up to unleash a project 500 times bigger on brownstone Brooklyn.
Led by a Forest City Ratner executive with a curious case of double standards, people in Millburn, NJ, are banding together under the Save Millburn organization, opposing a zoning exception for a proposed 16,350 square foot house of worship.
As the caption says, "The structure would be too big, too high, too wide, too close to neighbors, and without a major variance would not be legal. Traffic would increase and height limits, density limits, and signage would be overridden.
Well, it's not an unreasonable position to argue that an approved Zoning Ordinance and land use plan should be amended rather than be subject to "special zoning for special interests."
But...
NorthJersey.com reports:
Members of Save Millburn aren't 100 percent positive they will prevent the variances from being granted. However, members say the major priority was finding transparency in the application process, and it has been a long, litigious road.
..."Robert Sanna makes his living through development projects that require major variance relief," said [synagogue attorney Philip] Pfeffer. "In his own neighborhood they [variances] are suggested and he says they are inappropriate. This shows his true colors."
..."My company is engaged in economic development that brings jobs and affordable housing into areas that really need it," said Sanna. "That is quite different from a rabbi who wants a very fancy shul."
"All the projects my company does are 'as of right' projects that don't need zoning variances," said Sanna.
That's not close to true.
Related coverage...
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Forest City Ratner Executive Shows True NIMBY Colors in Jersey Zoning Dispute
Forest City Ratner Executive VP Bob Sanna is crying about a zoning variance in Millburn, NJ where a Rabbi wants to build a new synagogue. Sanna—whose Forest City Ratner company eschewed a zoning variance in Brooklyn for its Atlantic Yards project, instead going for a massive state override of all city zoning regulations—is a member of a local organization opposing that variance.
...None of his company's projects are "as of right." None, as in zero. Unless by "as of right" he means the right to any zoning they want and the right to steal other people's properties.
NoLandGrab: Could Mr. Sanna have meant "as of fright?"
Posted by eric at February 18, 2010 11:07 PM