A Sandy-devastated area in Queens is beginning to see new homes being rebuilt after the storm, according to the New York Daily News.
Construction on about half a dozen new homes for displaced residents of Breezy Point has begun. The area is a private community predominantly made up of cops, firefighters and other city workers on the edge of the Rockaway peninsula.
As Crain’s reported earlier this month, nine months after the storm, the rebuilding process was stuck in limbo, with only one property being rebuilt. Now it appears that the process is beginning to move forward.
The Breezy Point Cooperative has received about 70 building plans and counting from residents.
About 350 of the more than 2,800 homes in Breezy were completely destroyed by the fires or flood surges caused by Hurricane Sandy. Ten months after Sandy, about 60 percent of the community has returned.
The homes in Breezy Point would have been rebuilt faster, but many residents had trouble obtaining building permits due to their houses not being on city-mapped streets. A recent law, however, cut 12 to 18 months off the permit process. [NYDN] – James Comtois