Some members of an advisory committee for the Creedmoor redevelopment said at a meeting they felt shut out after a deal was made to slash the plan’s number of housing units. Screenshot via CAC Meeting 
By Ryan Schwach
Members of a community advisory committee created to weigh in on the plan to redevelop the Creedmoor campus in Eastern Queens were left out of discussions that resulted in the slashing of units associated in the project.
At a virtual meeting of the CAC last week, two members of the committee said they were not notified about the deal, and that Empire State Development, which is facilitating the redevelopment along with the Queens borough president’s office, has been unresponsive to them.
The two members, both local residents, said they were opposed to the cuts, and would have liked to have a voice in the negotiations that resulted in the slashing of 850 units from the massive redevelopment plan.
During the same Wednesday night Zoom meeting, Borough President Donovan Richards expressed his displeasure with the unit cuts – which was the result of an agreement between three local electeds – and told members of the CAC he would not stand by any more decreases in housing numbers.
In early August, a deal between Assemblymember Edward Braunstein, Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, City Councilmember Linda Lee and the state resulted in a significant decrease in the number of units promised in the development of the largely abandoned site in Eastern Queens. Originally, the state planned to build around 2,800 units before Braunstein, Stavisky and Lee pushed back on the density of the plan, successfully scaling the project back to 2,000 units.
The reduction in housing addressed concerns from the local community board and neighboring civic groups who worried too many new residents would change the character of the suburban-esque neighborhood and put a new strain on their local infrastructure.
The state’s plan to redevelop the land that formerly housed the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center has been criticized by a coalition of community civic leaders since its launch in 2023.
“Community Board 13 fully supports the agreement as it is, and all the community leaders in the Community Board 13 catchment area,” said Corey Bearak, the chair of CB13’s Creedmoor subcommittee and CAC member. “There is pretty significant community support for the project as it stands now.”
However, not everyone on the CAC, particularly younger members who are not also on the community board, felt out of the loop despite being a member of the committee specifically tasked with advising on the plans.
“I was hoping for some more clarity on why the decision to reduce units was made, and more specifically, why it was made without having a CAC meeting first to let us know of the proposed change,” said member Zak Kazmi. “It doesn’t really feel like a lot of advising has been going on, especially on my end.”
Kazmi also said that he had reached out to ESD for information a few months ago, but did not hear back.
“That felt like a huge lapse in communication,” he said, adding that if he had been able to weigh in, he would have argued against the unit cuts, calling them “morally reprehensible.”
“I’m just super disappointed that there was a reduction in the number of units given the scale of the crisis we’re facing, especially a reduction without any sort of consultation beforehand,” he said.
Another CAC member, Chris Mendoza, said he also was not made aware of the deal.
“I’m literally spending time now kind of scrounging through emails to see if I missed anything, because I’m going crazy in my own head,” he said.
During the meeting, ESD employee Anna Pycior told the pair that she was “sorry that the information didn’t get to [them] sooner” but argued the deal was public knowledge, and covered by the press.
In a statement, ESD made the same argument.
“The final agreement on housing at Creedmoor was announced in a public statement from the local elected officials and community board in August 2025 and was covered in local press,” a spokesperson said.
Bearak criticized them for not being as involved in the community as he and other CAC members were.
Richards also suggested Mendoza and Kazmi’s responsibility to reach out themselves.
“You should definitely be reaching out to the community board if you’re not within the internal process,” he said.
Mendoza and Kasmi pushed back, arguing that just by being on the CAC they thought they would have been looped into decisions.
“As someone who just is a regular resident that lives here, the CAC is my only outlet for getting this information,” Mendoza said. “Maybe it’s my own misunderstanding of the CAC. I believe being part of the CAC would have just been a little bit more communicative.”
“I thought the CAC for me would have been sufficient,” he said.
ESD said that the CAC’s input will be heard when going through the next steps of the development.
“The CAC’s input helped shape the final General Project Plan at Creedmoor,” a spokesperson said. “Their commentary at the 10/29 meeting and future CAC meetings will be taken into consideration as the project moves into the Request For Proposals phase. As demonstrated at the 10/29 meeting, CAC members have a wide range of expertise and priorities for the site, their feedback on the housing program and community amenities is taken seriously by ESD as RFPs are shaped and development partners are selected.”
‘Not happening under my watch’
The August deal for the Creedmoor redevelopment, still several decades away from being a reality, decreased the total number of units by 851. Of those units, 588 were supposed to be available to own, and 329 would have been rentals.
The cuts represent more than a quarter of the 2,022 units now planned to be built at Creedmoor.
The deal will also result in a 27 percent reduction in overall unit square footage, a 15 percent reduction in the amount of housing units set aside for individuals with mental illnesses and the removal of five 8-story buildings planned for the site.
The remaining 8-story buildings, the largest in the development plan, will be moved to the center of the campus, pulling them away from the suburban community that surrounds Creedmoor.
While some members of the community celebrated and fought for the cuts, others criticized it, limiting the plan’s ability to address the city’s housing crisis.
At the time, Richards called it a compromise, and said he could “live with” the changes, a tone that was noticeably different at the Oct. 29 CAC meeting.
“As the borough president, I’m not happy with cutting units,” he said, “We cut the units to try to appease the community, which I am not necessarily happy with.”
While he called the deal the “sweetest compromise,” he also chided CAC members for the lack of affordable housing built in their community.
The plan to redevelop 59-acres of the Creedmoor site is still many years off, with the first phase anticipated to be completed in 2029. Rendering via ESD 
“Don’t believe, because you live in a more affluent neighborhood, that there’s not a crisis,” he said. “Eastern Queens has done very little. As somebody who has a wider purview on what’s happening regionally…don’t tell me that your grandchildren or children can afford this neighborhood, because a home is closer to $700,000 to a million dollars. They can’t afford these homes based on their salaries.”
“I’m hoping everybody can live with these numbers, because we’re not cutting below these numbers, no way,” Richards added. “That’s not happening under my watch as the borough president.”
Creedmoor’s Council District District 23, represented by Lee, built the least affordable housing of any district in the city since 2014, according to data analyzed by Gothamist.
Lee’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
In a separate statement, Richards spokesperson Chris Barca said that the BP is firm on his view that the process needs to continue forward.
“Borough President Richards has been crystal clear in his belief that we must build, not endlessly haggle or debate our way out of this unprecedented housing crisis,” Barca said. “The Creedmoor master plan has already been modified significantly through compromise between this office, Empire State Development and local civic leaders to address community concerns, and it is well past time to move forward as proposed.”
ESD told the Eagle that there are no conversations to alter the Creedmoor plan any further, and that the current framework was voted on by ESD’s directors on Oct. 23.
ESD anticipates that they will issue requests for proposals for the first phase of development by the end of this year, with the hope the first construction work is done in 2029.
