Staten Island borough prez takes aim at another developer

Two key politicians withdrew their support for a planned 470,000-square-foot shopping center along Staten Island’s waterfront.

Borough President James Oddo and Councilmember Joe Borelli said they are concerned the development, dubbed Riverside Galleria, could lead to traffic jams.

“Frankly, I have no faith in the traffic plan presented to us, and the threat of a weeklySaturday morning traffic Armageddon along Arthur Kill Road easily outweighs the value of reclaiming this stretch of waterfront and the other comparatively limited positives I saw as potentially emanating from this project,” Oddo said in a statement.

The Shopping Center On Arthur Kill Road, proposed by developer Melohn Properties would include a dine-in movie theater and a rooftop bar, DNAinfo reported.

Last month, Oddo claimed Melohn was trying to duck a state rule that would require the project’s new streets to be placed on the city map. If it loses that gambit, Melohn’s project would have to go through the city’s land-use review process.

Oddo has a history of fighting development proposals. In 2015, he attacked the Savo Brothers’ Mount Manresa housing development project, and won a court ruling that allowed him to rename the development’s streets after greed and deception, much to the chagrin of the developer. [DNAinfo] — Konrad Putzier