Quan Feng said he wanted to build his dream house in the Douglaston area so his two children could grow up in a safe, peaceful neighborhood away from the congestion of Flushing.
But Feng’s future neighbors seem less than peaceful.
They’re furious at the size of his home on 244th Street, filing complaints, writing letters to city officials and calling on City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) to push for changes in building and zoning codes.
Neighbors in Queens called the 2 1/2-story brick corner house an “eyesore” and a “selfish act,” stripping away the affluent neighborhood’s charm by towering over the smaller Colonial- and Tudor-style homes built about 70 years ago.
Fearing the noise will be too much for the quiet street, they say two large air-conditioning units on Feng’s 25-foot-high roof should be taken down immediately.
“It’s changing the character of the neighborhood. If you look around, these homes are normally small,” said Marie Marsina, a former investment banker who lives across the street from Feng. “We think’s it’s an eyesore.”
More than 50 neighbors, including members of the Douglaston Civic Association and Avella, held a rally recently across from the home to protest the building and others like it.
“I call this the air-conditioning house. If you look, I’ve never seen such an obnoxious sight of huge air-conditioning ducts on the roof of a house,” Avella said.
Avella, who charged that legal loopholes allow supersized homes to sprout across the city, said he has funded his own zoning study of the district and petitioned Mayor Bloomberg’s office to stop the “domino effect.”
Feng, 49, insists he has not done anything illegal.
“We’ve done the work according to the building code. They are wrong,” said Feng, a Flushing construction company owner who emigrated from China 20 years ago. “I tried to explain to a hundred people. They don’t want to listen.”
Feng started building three years ago, but construction lagged because of three violations for working without a permit and numerous changes made to the building plans. There also were 18 complaints filed against him, according to city Building Department records.
The home’s living space, lined with polished granite and wood, falls within the 2,500 square-foot maximum for the lot, according to the floor plans. The roof’s height does not exceed the limit for local zoning.
“The plans that are on file comply with the present zoning regulations,” said Buildings Department spokeswoman Ilyse Fink. The home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a detached garage and no room for a backyard.
The rooftop air-conditioning units were approved, Feng said, because the property is smaller than the average lot.
This summer, Feng said he plans on moving in with his wife, his parents and his children, ages 5 and 8.
“I try to explain to my neighbors I’m a good person,” he said. “This is my dream. . . . We want the kids to have a good area to grow up.”
