Inside the Development Battle That’s Dividing Flushing
Land Use & Zoning chair, Mitchell Korbey, was quoted by the Commercial Observer discussing the community conflict in Flushing, Queens over a plan to build thirteen towers with 1,700 apartments, hotels, retail and office along an industrial stretch of waterfront.
The City Council is expected to vote on the plan in the next month and a half, but the project is receiving by challenges from unions, local activists and politicians who want more affordable housing and union labor in the sprawling development.
The article states, "Mitch Korbey, a real estate attorney and chair of the land use group at Herrick Feinstein, noted that the council typically approves rezonings as long as the local council member supports them. He compared the Flushing plan to the proposed rezoning of Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where the owners recently withdrew their application in the face of growing opposition from a long list of local politicians, including Brooklyn’s congressional delegation, several state senators and the neighborhood’s councilmember, Carlos Menchaca."
Mitch is quoted as saying, "You have members outside the district not supporting this and not deferring to the member who does support it... It’s akin to Industry City, and now Industry City will move forward with a litany of private projects that don’t have any community inputs."