For several years, the communities of eastern Queens have engaged in discussions with our community leaders, our local and state elected officials and Empire State Development (ESD) about possible reuse of 55 acres of land on the state’s Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus. We long recognized the campus as a resource for eastern Queens and took steps to ensure any reuses served the needs of our communities.
That remains the case today with the plan we developed, Queens Community Board 13 adopted and we shared with ESD and our elected city and state officials. It would create housing that enables our seniors and our young adults to choose to remain in eastern Queens. At the same time, it allows for more practical use of our existing housing stock for families who seek the variety of housing (one- and two-family homes, co-operatives and rentals) that already exists throughout eastern Queens.
While Creedmoor has a Queens Village address, the parcels deemed surplus lie within Bellerose and Queens Community Board 13, which hugs the Queens-Nassau border from the Grand Central Parkway south to the JFK Airport (which is considered to sit within the community district bounds). Community District 13 includes Bellaire, Bellerose, Brookville, Cambria Heights, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, Laurelton, Meadowmere, New Hyde Park, North Shore Towers, Queens Village, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens, Warnerville and Wayanda.
That process led to neighborhood leaders including Community Board 13 Chair Bryan Block convening to discuss options for developing the surplus Creedmoor parcels as 2023 began. We presented the plan to Community Board 13’s Land Use Committee, which submitted a resolution to the full board and was adopted based on our plan.
Our community-conceived plans focused on three considerations: (1) “Community Priorities;” (2) “Community Needs;” and (3) “Objections.”
We identified six priorities:
1. Serve needs of community first
2. Low to medium density scale…
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