Douglaston LDC Asks CB 11 to Buy Vacant Lot for Village Master Plan

In an effort to create access between Douglaston Village and neighboring wetlands, the community’s Local Development Corporation has called on Community Board 11 to obtain city funding to purchase a vacant lot along 235th Street.

The undeveloped lot, which is private owned, could be transformed into a park, allowing for a bicycle lane and a boardwalk similar to existing pathways at , said Lisa Lempel-Sander, a member of the LDC and vice president of the Douglaston Little Neck Historical Society.

The LDC made the request as part of CB 11’s process to determine which neighborhood projects are budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2013.

“This lot bars any kind of access between the wetlands and Douglaston Village,” Lempel-Sander said. “Buying the lot means that we would have access. We don’t want to get in there and excavate or pave. We want recreational and aesthetic opportunities.”

The LDC’s would include green space, protect the historic character of the neighborhood and upgrade the shopping strip along 235th Street.

The lot, located next door to Peak Bicycle Shop on 235th Street, currently blocks access between Alley Pond and the village.

“Our wish would be to create a smooth, natural organic link between the village, Alley Pond Environmental Center, the wetlands and the shoreline,” Lempel-Sander said.

The community board would seek city funding for the project if it decides to list the project as a capital expense budget priority.

Jerry Iannece, CB 11’s chairman, also announced at the meeting that Fairway Market would most likely hold a ribbon cutting for its on Nov. 4.

The store is expected to open Nov. 9, Fairway CEO Howard Glickberg said during a phone interview last week.

At CB 11’s meeting, 111th Precinct Captain Ron Leyson said that police had recently caught a in Queens and Brooklyn during the past nine months.

“He’s going to be in jail for a long time,” Leyson said.

But the captain said a new pattern has recently emerged in northeast Queens during which a masked man wearing a blue hoodie robs local gas stations.

Most recently, the robber took $900 from a on Northern Boulevard. There have been no arrests at this time for the robberies.