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Testimony of State Senator Liz Krueger Before the Board of Standards and Appeals Regarding the Construction Permit for Kettering Research Laboratory
Building June 17, 2003 I am
State Senator Liz Krueger and I represent the district in which this proposed
facility would be situated. While I
am submitting testimony out of concern for the well-being of the community
that is faced with this project, I am also greatly concerned about the
negative precedent that the Board of Standards and Appeals would set if it
upholds the granting of this Building Permit. Simply stated, the Department of Buildings should not have
granted a permit for a research laboratory to be built in a densely
residential neighborhood. The Zoning
Resolution appropriately relegates research laboratories to manufacturing
zoning districts, and it is therefore not surprising that this community will
bring its legitimate concerns to your attention today—a wide range of
concerns that all directly relate to the problem of having this facility
located in a residential neighborhood.
If this permit were allowed to stand, the BSA would be setting a
negative precedent by defying the Zoning Resolution and obliterating the
criteria used to define “hospital related” and community facilities. Because
the issuance of this permit directly undermines the integrity of the Zoning
Resolution, I am compelled to speak briefly and broadly about the importance
of zoning in regulating the built environment—both as a mechanism for good
planning and a resource for residential neighborhoods to protect themselves
from harmful or incompatible development.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of zoning. It deliberately encourages the most appropriate
use of land, helps maintain the character of neighborhoods, facilitates the
provision of transportation, schools, and parks, lessens traffic congestion
and overcrowding, contains damage from fires and other dangers, and prevents
landowners from using their properties in ways that are injurious to
communities. As you will hear
throughout today’s testimony, each of these functions of zoning would be
undermined by allowing this facility to be built in this residential
neighborhood. As the
Department of Buildings correctly argued in a document dated May 21, 2001,
the proposed facility is a research laboratory that is specifically listed in
Use Group 17, and, therefore, must be located in a Manufacturing Zoning
District and may not be located in the R8/R9 zoned site. It is both irrelevant and disingenuous to
assert that the proposed building is either a “hospital related” facility or
an accessory to Memorial Hospital.
The Applicant’s attorneys have explicitly and repeatedly demonstrated
that the laboratory will be neither owned nor operated by any hospital, nor
will it provide or support any of the functions of a hospital. In addition, it would not be on the same
zoning lot as a hospital and the proposal does not require the filing of a
Certificate of Need with the New York State Department of Health. The bottom line is that the proposed
facility falls squarely within the definition of the Use Group 17 category,
which has no provision for accessory use and as a more specific listing, it
controls. A decision by the BSA which
implies that this building is a hospital related facility would profoundly
undermine the integrity of the zoning resolution and establish a precedent
that leaves residential districts few protections. It goes
without saying that a cancer research center is a vitally important
institution. Cancer is a dreaded
disease that imperils us all, and Memorial Sloan Kettering has a deserved
reputation as a world leader in cancer research and treatment. For good reasons, however, the Zoning
Resolution mandates that research laboratories must be situated in manufacturing
districts. While I have chosen to
stress the broader policy implications of your decision, you will be hearing
testimony from members of the community that have legitimate concerns about a
research center being located on a mid-block site, in the direct vicinity of
a school, park, and church. In
conclusion, I join the Petitioners in asking the BSA to uphold the Zoning
Resolution and revoke the permit issued by the Department of Buildings. |
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