Our city government, including the zoning board, over many decades has established building standards for the community through zoning regulations. The zoning ordinance has limited the height of boardwalk parcels to 70 feet, from Washington to Neptune boulevards, with the exception that on June 18, 2002, section 9-105.14 was added/amended to allow for 110 feet for the limited area of National Boulevard to Long Beach Road in order to spur development of the Superblock and Foundation block parcels. In other words, the City Council amended the code to allow for a height of up to 110 feet, specifically taking into account the needs of potential developers of the Superblock. This was done only after considerable diligence, hearings and expert advice.

Thus, with the exception of the special zoning created for the Superblock and Foundation block area in 2002, any development above the 70-foot limitation has always required a variance. The Sea Pointe Towers, Allegria Hotel and the Aqua all faced opposition to height variances and none exceed nine stories from boardwalk level (the Avalon is 10 from boardwalk level). In contrast, the iStar website renderings show 15 floors of residences over a two-level retail space.

Seventy feet has been the norm in our community. iStar wants 160 feet, or 2.3 times our 70-foot norm. This is the fair way to look at this. To get a feel for what such height looks like in reality, one need only look at the Towers at the Water’s Edge in Bayside and the Creedmoor Psychiatric Facility along the Grand Central and Cross Island Parkways.

Plan is out of scale

The iStar proposal is broadly out of scale with other buildings adjacent to the boardwalk and their layout east to west from the Superblock, and will be a visual affront, the proverbial “sore thumb.” Residents of the north side of Broadway, and for a few blocks east and west of the Superblock on Penn and Beech streets, will look south, and now have two giant towers in view, and long shadows. Consider what these two towers — four times the height of Hoffman Manor — will look like at the boardwalk, and how morning and afternoon sun will be blocked.