By Nick Prigo

Last week, Community Board 7 held a hearing on Jewish Home Lifecare’s attempt to build a high-rise nursing home on 97th Street. The meeting, held at P.S. 163, was packed with concerned neighbors that have organized themselves in opposition to the plan, and also included speakers who support JHL’s plans.

CB7’s steering, land use, and health committees held this hearing because city zoning rules require that if certain conditions exist, a proposal to build or relocate a nursing home must undergo a formal land use review process called ULURP (stands for uniform land use review procedure). This more rigorous ULURP process exists so that communities like ours have a voice in deciding what gets built.

The CB7 committees voted 15 to 7 that one of conditions DOES exist, thereby preventing the proposal from skipping the land use review process. The finding stemmed from a particular clause in the zoning rules that require that the community has sufficient land available for general community purposes – something that the CB7 committees found not to be the case.

Before this finding becomes the official position of CB7 it must first be voted on by the full 50-member CB7 Board at its upcoming meeting.  CB7’s full Board vote will then be sent to the New York City Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission, who will make the final decision on whether JHL’s proposal must go through the more stringent land use review process.

The full membership of CB7 will vote at its meeting on Tuesday, February 7th, beginning at 6:30 pm at Congregation Rodeph Sholom (7 West 83rd Street).

Nick Prigo is the Co-Chair of the Housing Committee on the Upper West
Side’s Community Board 7 and founder of BetterBuildingsNY. Twitter
handle @NickPrigo.