This school proposal got a failing grade.
Members of Community Board 10 voted on Oct. 17 to disapprove Bay Ridge Prep’s plan to build a six-story educational complex on 89th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues, because the panel feels that the planned building is too tall. Board members suggested the school deep-six a pool it planned for the building’s basement in order to reduce the structure’s overall height by one story, according to a member of the group’s land-use committee.
“I would consider supporting a building that is one full story lower. And in order to do that, it would seem to me that you would have to eliminate the pool,” said Joanne Seminara. “You can’t have both, because you can’t have the height.”
But school officials contend the idea doesn’t hold water, because they can’t build much else in the window-less cellar — plus Bay Ridge is a public pool desert that could benefit from a new place for locals to take a dip, a rep for the school said.
“Removing the pool is not a viable solution, since the space it would occupy is below ground and without windows, deeming it unusable for classrooms,” said Bay Ridge Prep spokesman Anthony Hazzel. “A pool is vital to Bay Ridge, since the neighborhood has a serve shortage of pool time available to senior citizens and families looking for local swim instruction.”
Bay Ridge Prep needs city approval to build a school on the site and a second approval to erect one as tall as six stories. The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals has the final approval over both bids. Community Board 10 voted to disprove the height request but approved the general request to build a school on the site.
