Cuomo decision allows Claire to rezone Flushing waterfront

From QNS:

A 62-acre portion of land on the Flushing waterfront may soon see substantial redevelopment after receiving a special designation from the state.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) designation for an area of land in the western area of downtown Flushing, bounded to the north by Northern Boulevard, to the east by Prince Street, to the south by Roosevelt Avenue and to the west by Flushing Creek and the Van Wyck Expressway.

The Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation (FWCLDC) presented the application for the BOA, which is described as a vacant, underdeveloped and/or polluted area where, under the program, economic environmental conditions are examined and redevelopment opportunities are identified in an attempt to attract public and public investment.

The designation opens up several benefits for future developers, including support from state municipalities and a potential for tax credits.

“I thank our entire board for its support during this process and now look forward to the next phase which will include a formal ULURP application to implement the zoning recommendations included in our nomination study,” said Claire Shulman, president and CEO of the Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC said in a letter to the LDC’s board. “The LDC thanks the Department of City Planning for its stellar work on our nomination study and environmental assessment report. Our staff at the LDC also deserve thanks for their hard work in overseeing and ensuring completion of this critical phase of our work. The LDC will apply for funding for the next phase of our work (implementation) as soon as it becomes available from the state.”

Waterpointe worked out?

From the Times Ledger:

After the Whitestone community raised concerns about soil contamination, elected officials and local leaders met with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and developers of the Whitestone Waterpointe project to discuss the future of the venture moving forward.

Last week, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D-Flushing) and members of Community Board 7 and the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Civic Association, were able to talk to DEC and developers from the Edgestone Group about key issues facing the 18-acre waterfront property, located at 151st Place and 6th Road.

Avella wrote a letter to DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos requesting a meeting with the commissioner to find out why DEC permitted Edgestone Group to modify the soil cover requirement from Track 2 Residential to Track 4 Restricted-Residential and why DEC allowed the change without first discussing it with elected officials, CB 7 or community members.

Last week’s meeting allowed for a dialogue and Avella said that while there are still a few items that remain to be concluded, he and Rosenthal were able to talk the developer into agreeing to bring in additional “unrestricted” or “virgin” soil so that homeowners will be able to grow vegetables in their garden. Avella said they were also able to have the developers agree that all monies placed in escrow to maintain the environmental monitoring system, which will require a yearly report, will remain with the homeowners association at the end of the original ten-year escrow agreement term.

For now Avella and Rosenthal said they will urge the developer to increase the monies to be held in escrow to ensure that the new homeowners will not be burdened by the expense of the environmental monitoring system. While the senator said he was pleased that the developer agreed to put in unrestricted soil, he is convinced that the current dollar amount planned for the escrow account is inadequate and will prove to be too little over time.

DEC wants your input on contaminated site

From the Queens Tribune:

The state Department of Environment Conservation is seeking the public’s opinion on how a potentially contaminated plot of property in Hollis should be remedied.

The site, which is located at 202-16 Hillside Ave., was considered eligible for the New York Brownfield Cleanup Program, which was set up to mitigate sites with potentially harmful contaminant levels exceeding the threshold set up by the DEC. The program utilizes community feedback and oversight from the DEC and the state Department of Health to clean up spaces around the city efficiently without harming the quality of life. The Brownfield Cleanup Program services properties that are eyed for redevelopment.

To keep residents in the loop regarding the property, the state is asking that Hollis residents provide feedback on how the final plan of will be executed. Additionally, more in-depth dissection of the work being completed at the site can be collected at the Queens Library Hollis Branch, located at 202-05 Hillside Ave., or at Community Board 12’s office, located at 90-28 161st St. in Jamaica.

DEC too lax with Whitestone brownfield cleanup

Great report by Ryan Brady in the Queens Chronicle:

In September, the Department of Environmental Conservation changed the brownfield cleanup program track for the Waterpointe development planned in Whitestone. A Track 2 residential cleanup was first planned for the site, where a single-family housing development is planned.

But after the agency discovered that material at the site used as fill did not meet the residential use soil cleanup objectives, it changed the project to Track 4 restricted residential use, a less stringent one. And though the DEC initially had said that single-family homes could no longer be built there, it reversed its stance after Community Board 7 protested.

The agency decided to stick with Track 4 restricted residential use when it reverted back to the single-family housing plan. And while the DEC told the Chronicle that the option is permitted when the homes are controlled by a common entity, as the Waterpointe ones are planned to be, Whitestone resident Robert LoScalzo believes that the agency cannot allow them to be built with that track.

As proof, he points to the sheet that the DEC sent CB 7 when it initially changed the brownfield cleanup and said that single-family homes could not be built. It said, “Restricted residential use provides for common ownership or a single owner/managing entity of the Site, however, single-family housing is prohibited.”

According to LoScalzo, allowing the one-family homes is “a bastardization of what they’re obligated to do under the regulation.”

To further back up his argument, the Whitestone resident pointed to a set of DEC regulations that became effective in 2006, which also says that restricted-residential use does not allow one-family homes.

The agency has also said that the Edgestone Group, the firm that owns the site, was responsible for the fill that led the track to be changed. LoScalzo wonders why the company was not punished at all for using it. “By virtue of dumping material there, they failed to comply with the standards for Track 2 cleanup,” he said. “Why are they so easily off the hook by DEC simply changing the cleanup to Track 4?”

We hear LoScalzo was present at Senator Avella's event yesterday at the Waterpointe site, and addressed the press separately afterward. Stay tuned for more because it looks like he's not done yet.

Whitestone brownfield won't get cleaned up

From the Times Ledger:

The Great Atlantic Pacific & Tea Company currently has no definite plans to clean up a brownfield at the former Johnny on the Spot Dry Cleaners site in Whitestone after the company filed for bankruptcy in July, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

At the end of July, A&P, which also owns Pathmark and Waldbaum’s, announced it had agreed to sell 120 stores for about $600 million. The company said it secured financing of $100 million and voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In July 2014, A&P submitted an application on behalf of the former Johnny on the Spot Dry Cleaners at 152-45 10th Ave. to the DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, a voluntary program that helps repair and redevelop brownfields, or contaminated properties.

Flushing waterfront development: Ah, the smell of it!

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing group and the Department of City Planning have teamed up to push forth a project that would redevelop the Flushing waterfront and bring more affordable housing to the area.

In 2011, the Flushing Willets Corona Local Development Corporation received a $1.5 million New York State Brownfield Opportunity Grant to fund its Flushing Riverfront Project, which would clean up and rezone 60 acres on the Flushing waterfront. The project would create a planned community with waterfront access and housing and commercial space.

City Planning decided to combine the corporation’s project into its study of Flushing West, which supports Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10-year affordable housing plan.

The study area — whose lot area consists of 32 acres — covers Prince Street to Flushing Creek on the west, Roosevelt Avenue on the south and Northern Boulevard on the north.

“This was a great opportunity to join both efforts because the goals were aligned to create a new community and Flushing has a great need for affordable housing,” said Alex Rosa, a project consultant for the corporation.

The agency will put together a brownfield opportunity area report that will explain the challenges and opportunities for redeveloping the area and prepare rezoning recommendations.

“Flushing did have a lot of dynamics to it where it seemed to be growing towards the waterfront and we wanted to combine the idea of the downtown vibrancy, creating new jobs here and new housing and provide a market with a direction that would also include affordable housing,” said John Young, director of the City Planning’s Queens office.

In 2012, members of the Flushing Willets corporation found that the 60-acre area was mostly made up of industrial and unused lots, which could be used for numerous purposes.

Three-quarters of the study area is zoned C4-2, or a commercial and residential zone. The northern portion of the study has M1-1 zoning, which is light manufacturing. The northern portion along the waterfront is zoned M3-1, which is heavier manufacturing. The study will be introduced at a public town hall meeting May 21 at 6 p.m. at Flushing Town Hall.

So Claire Shulman's bogus lobbying group is pushing to to rezone more manufacturing areas for bullshit "affordable housing" that will do nothing but further enrich wealthy developers? Aren't we tired of this shtick already?

It's time to clean up the brownfields program

From Capital New York:

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on a statewide brownfield cleanup program that is woefully insufficient, according to a report issued by a leading environmental advocacy group in New York.

"The current program is out of control," Peter Iwanowicz, head of Environmental Advocates of New York, said in statement accompanying the report. "Taxpayers are footing the bill for an extraordinarily costly and broken system that is in desperate need of reform.”

The report, entitled "Ripe for Reform," says that since 2009, close to $800 million in tax breaks have gone to redevelopment at brownfield sites and not for cleanup, leaving thousands of sites in need of remediation. In releasing the report last week, the group joined Citizens Budget Commission in urging Albany to enact reforms proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Brownfields are sites of concentrated contamination that are the environmental legacy of New York's 20th century manufacturing industry. Former gas and oil refineries, chemical plants and foundries are the chief sites in need of remediation.

According to the EANY report, whole regions of the state have been ignored by New York's Brownfield Cleanup Program, while the "cleanup" aspect of the program has given way to lucrative redevelopment tax credits. The group reports that 86 percent of all payouts since 2009 have been redevelopment credits as opposed to remediation costs.

Whitestone A&P seeks brownfield status

From the Times Ledger:

The site of a former dry cleaners’ service, which is part of a shopping center in Whitestone, is now being considered for the state Brownfield Cleanup Program.

On July 14, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a supermarket chain based in Montvale, N.J., submitted an application on behalf of the former Johnny on the Spot Dry Cleaners on 152-45 10th Ave. to the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.

It is a voluntary program that helps repair and redevelop brownfields, or contaminated properties. The application was completed by Oct. 29, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The site is part of the Whitestone Shopping Center, a 62,000-square-foot property on 153-01 10th Ave., which includes the Waldbaum’s supermarket, Subway restaurant, Sunshine Spa & Hair Salon, Cascarino’s Pizza, Cascarino’s upcoming Café 154, J.D. Opticians and the Astoria Bank, which is adjacent to the site.

It was unclear what and if A&P planned to build on the site, but a brownfield application indicates the company may have a project in mind, said Paul Graziano, an urban planning consultant and a historic preservationist.

“If they want to redevelop the site in any way, they have to go through a brownfield cleanup,” Graziano said. “It’s in a manufacturing zone and my guess is if they want to do something besides what’s existing, then they are looking to go through this cleanup.”

The A&P has a 40-year lease on the property, according to an agreement between Feil Whitestone and Waldbaum’s Inc. dated Feb. 27, 2004.

A&P could not be reached for comment after repeated attempts.

Avella calls Willets Point developer out for double-dipping

From the Times Ledger:

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) has called on the state Department of Conservation to reject an application by the developers of Willets Point for millions of dollars in tax credits.

Avella slammed the Queens Development Group, a joint venture by Related Co., and Sterling Equities, for applying for credits from DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program in addition to $40 million they received from the city for clean-up costs associated with their $3 billion redevelopment of Willets Point.

“The QDG is attempting to take advantage of the BCP tax credit program by trying to apply for millions in tax credits for costs that will already be paid from the taxpayer’s pocket. It’s absolutely disgraceful,” Avella said. “The DEC’s response is alarming, as it completely disregards the fact that the QDG is already required to clean up the site and will already be receiving taxpayer funds to do so.”

Avella said he contacted the DEC after he learned the developers had been granted the city funds despite having already applied for Brownfield credits.

In a recent letter the DEC said, “The public interest is served by allowing these properties to participate in the BCP.”

The DEC did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the developers said that any tax credits they received from the DEC’s Brownfield program would not necessarily overlap as not all eligible clean-up areas were being reimbursed by the city.

Cuomo rolling in brownfield developer dough

From Crains:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has collected at least $650,000 in campaign contributions from recipients of tax credits to redevelop industrial sites during the past four years, a review of state data show.

Related Cos., its executives and entities controlled by the New York-based developer of Time Warner Center were the biggest donor, giving at least $262,700 to Cuomo, who is running for a second term. Syracuse shopping-mall magnate Robert Congel, members of his family and executives at his Pyramid Cos. contributed $143,250.

Critics of the incentives, which have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion since 2006, say they benefit wealthy developers and have done little to clean up contaminated industrial sites. Unlike other states, New York doesn't limit the program to cleanup costs, and a study found that 94% of its brownfields tax credits have been used for redeveloping properties instead of remediating blighted land.

"It's all too common in Albany for recipients of aid from the state government to be among the biggest campaign contributors," said Bill Mahoney, who studies campaign-finance data for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a government watchdog. "Even if decisions aren't being directly influenced by checks, there's definitely an idea in Albany that interest groups will be less successful if they don't find a way to funnel money to elected officials."

Brownfield cleanup push in Jamaica

From the Times Ledger:

Downtown Jamaica is one of the neighborhoods benefitting from a state program that redevelops underused vacant lots, home in the past to gas stations, auto repair shops, junk yards, factories and similar poorly managed waste operations.

Known as Brownfield Opportunity Areas, the project cleans up these sites, usually in low-income areas, by removing dangerous contaminants and then redeveloping them.

Now the City Council is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include a $15 million allocation in state long-term funding. The 2014-15 state budget “has inexplicably eliminated funding” for the program, said Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), chairman of the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection.

Emphasizing that the program plays “a vital role in restoring and revitalizing distressed communities and creating jobs,” the councilman insisted on the need to keep funding the Brownfield Opportunity Areas.

In Jamaica, the target area — mostly industrial and commercial — covers 40 blocks, containing a total of 616 properties, to the south of the Long Island Rail Road station, except for a stretch along Archer and Jamaica avenues north of the tracks.

Flushing Commons & Ridgewood Post Office site are both toxic

From the Times Ledger:

Just before the new year, Essex Capital Partners Ltd., a Manhattan-based national real estate firm, submitted paperwork to demolish a shuttered post office and two one-story commercial buildings, at 16-14 through 16-32 Madison St., and build a 63,395-square-foot apartment building in their place. The developer plans to include 46 parking spots, according to city Department of Building filings.

[In August], 1614 Madison Partners inked a Brownfield Cleanup Program agreement with the state Environmental Department of Conservation. Under the cleanup initiative, the state attempts to spur owners of contaminated property to redevelop the sites by offering them tax benefits to remediate the pollution.

The developer’s two-lot purchase once housed the Philru Knitting Mill and contains concentrations of a toxic chemical often used to dry clean fabrics and de-grease metals that exceed state guidelines, according to paperwork 1614 Madison Partners filed with the DEC.

The DEC received a draft investigation work plan for the site and invited the public to share feedback through Jan. 10 on how the LLC proposes to examine the site’s contamination.

After adjusting the investigation plan, if necessary, 1614 Madison Partners will use the results of environmental tests to compile a report and draft a proposed cleanup plan. The public may view and comment on the proposal before the state decides whether to sign off on it.

Preliminary tests found concentrations of tetrachloroethene — commonly known as PCE — above state limits in shallow soil, soil vapor and groundwater, according to the draft investigation work plan.

The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry has determined that exposure to high concentrations of PCE can cause dizziness, headaches, sleepiness, confusion, nausea, difficulty speaking or walking, unconsciousness and death, according to the agency. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that PCE “may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen” because it has caused liver and kidney tumors in rodents.

From the Times Ledger:

The developers of the Flushing Commons project have opted into a city-run, environmental cleanup program after low levels of contaminants were found below Municipal Lot 1 — protecting them from future enforcement actions from city or state environmental agencies.

The mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation said the plan to remediate conditions at the site covers only the first phase of the Rockefeller Group’s $850 million development scheduled to kick off in March.

A 2006 investigation by Flushing Commons’ engineers found contaminants in the soil and groundwater below the parking lot at marginally low levels, but because they may pose safety hazards as construction crews excavate and dispose of about 178,000 tons of soil, the plan lays out guidelines for the safe handling of the soil.

The city’s voluntary cleanup program also offers Rockefeller the guarantee that city and state environmental agencies will not pursue enforcement actions that could delay construction schedules.

Tests at the site found methyl tert-butyl — a gasoline additive commonly found as a pollutant in the city — the dry cleaning solution PERC and metals such as lead and nickel in the groundwater at levels nominally higher than the quality standards set by the state.

Lead was found in the soil at levels deemed safe for residential use but too dangerous to use in sensitive wetlands or as fill on farms.

While the source of the contaminants has not been determined, it is suspected it may have come from a 1-foot-thick layer of soil fill found below the pavement.

Another brownfield-to-condo project

From WyckoffHeights.org:

A demolition application has been filed for 16-14 Madison Street (between Wyckoff and Myrtle Aves). The one-story warehouse building - a former post office - was purchased in August by Essex Capital (via 1614 Madison Partners LLC) for $4,700,000.

The property is located in a C4-3A zoning district which allows for both commercial and residential use. A recent Brownfield Cleanup Program application for the site (ID #C241150) filed with the NY State DEP notes:

The current use of the site is for Commercial and the intended use of the site is for Residential and Unrestricted use.

(More history at the above link.)

Brownfield program is just a developer giveaway

From Capital New York:

The state's brownfield cleanup program has cost taxpayers $1.14 billion, but has restored just 131 contaminated sites, according to a new study from an environmental advocacy group.

Since its creation a decade ago, the Brownfield Cleanup Program has largely spent money on sites in wealthier areas, rather than poor and minority communities that could benefit the most from the program, according to a study released Thursday by Environmental Advocates of New York. There are an additional 321 sites enrolled in the program, and $3 billion in liabilities pending.

The group alleges that the program functions more as a giveaway to developers, rather than targeting the thousands of brownfield sites across New York.

“This program is costly and it's also off target,” said Andrew Postiglione, the fiscal policy analyst for Environmental Advocates, in a phone call with reporters on Thursday. “Many investments are going to projects that would have existed without the program in the first place.”

The group said the program benefits developers, who are heavy political donors, because it bases credit on the value of the property that's constructed after the cleanup.

The money has largely gone to projects in New York City, rather than upstate communities with polluted sites. In 2012, a single Manhattan redevelopment project received about half of the funds paid out under the program.

Sterling/Related dishonest about Willets Point remediation plans

From a letter posted by Willets Point United to NYC Council Members:

Thorough remediation of Willets Point property has always been touted as an alleged benefit of this proposed development. Sterling/Related have even tried to create the impression that the remediation of Willets Point property is such a benefit, that the public should tolerate the drastic changes that Sterling/Related want to impose on the redevelopment plan that was approved in 2008. But now we find that Sterling/Related are even deceiving us concerning the remediation.

Sterling/Related have said that they are enrolling the project into NYSDEC's Brownfield Cleanup Program ("BCP"). But what Sterling/Related have not publicly said, is that they are deliberately excluding from the BCP certain notorious property that, by the developers' own reasoning, may be most in need of remediation and most deserve NYSDEC scrutiny pursuant to the BCP.

We understand that Willets Point Phase One property that is not owned by the City cannot be enrolled in the BCP at this time. But the City claims to already own 95 percent of the Phase One property. All of the City-owned lots within Phase One that Sterling/Related intend to develop should be included within the developers' pending BCP application. But that is not the case. Numerous City-owned properties located within Phase One – lots which Sterling/Related fully intend to develop – are mysteriously excluded from Sterling/Related's BCP application.

For example, Block 1824, Lot 1 – a relatively large property – is already owned by the City, but Sterling/Related have deliberately omitted it from their BCP application. Compare the attached maps depicting the intended Willets Point Phase One development excerpted from the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (showing Assemblage Options 1 and 2), both of which include Block 1824, Lot 1, with the next attached map excerpted from Sterling/Related's BCP application, specifying which blocks and lots Sterling/Related intend to enroll in the BCP, which mysteriously excludes Block 1824, Lot 1.


It so happens that Block 1824, Lot 1 was for several decades the location of Sambucci Bros. Auto Salvage – an automobile wrecking and dismantling businesses that handled a large quantity of vehicles. By Sterling/Related's own reasoning, property with a history of such use is exactly the kind that should be most in need of remediation – and that the public wants to be assured will be remediated to the high standards of the BCP Certificate of Completion, and nothing less. Yet, Sterling/Related have deliberately omitted this property from their BCP application, so that it will be excluded from the BCP. Why?

In addition to Block 1824, Lot 1, other properties that are owned by the City and intended to be developed by Sterling/Related are also deliberately excluded from Sterling/Related's BCP application, such as Block 1824, Lot 12; Block 1824, Lot 21; Block 1824, Lot 28; Block 1825, Lot 55; Block 1826, Lot 1; and Block 1826, Lot 31. Online City records indicate that the City acquired all of those lots long before Sterling/Related submitted their BCP application to NYSDEC.

It is not in the public's interest for Sterling/Related to cherry-pick certain Phase One properties – especially properties whose prior uses fit the profile that Sterling/Related allege requires extensive remediation – and deliberately omit those lots from the BCP application so that they are excluded from the BCP, and so that no Certificate of Completion for those lots will be issued by NYSDEC pursuant to the BCP.

Sterling/Related have never publicly explained why they are deliberately excluding certain properties – including the former Sambucci Bros. Auto Salvage site – from the BCP; nor have they even publicly admitted that they are doing so.

To the contrary: Sterling/Related's representative testified to the City Council on September 3, 2013 that "we're gonna clean our 23 acres; we have enrolled this project into the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program" – creating the false impression with the Council that all of the affected Phase One properties will undergo the program.

Withholding property from the Brownfield Cleanup Program should be the last straw – a clear warning to decision-makers that this development, which is supposed to remediate property once and for all, is not being properly implemented. It is bad enough that Sterling/Related have already compromised the affordable housing, the schedule, the new Van Wyck ramps, 30+ acres of Queens parkland, and so much else. It is too much to allow them to also compromise the remediation that is literally at the foundation of this project.

The pending ULURP application of Sterling/Related has obviously been rushed to coincide with the end of Mayor Bloomberg's final term, and the integrity of the Willets Point project originally approved by the City Council in 2008 has been sacrificed. None of that is necessary. Denying this ULURP application of Sterling/Related will allow the next City administration to take a fresh look at this project, and to ensure that its goals – including thorough remediation of property – are respected, not evaded by a developer.

Avella-Braunstein brownfield bill signed into law

From Bayside Patch:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill proposed by state Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, and state Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, that would require the city to notify community boards of new brownfield site cleanups.

Currently, the city’s Department of Environmental Conservation requires a period of public comment for a brownfield cleanup and notifies adjacent property owners, nearby schools and local newspapers. But community boards had previously not been privy to information about new cleanups.

Under Avella and Braunstein’s bill, the DEC would be forced to notify community boards of all new brownfield cleanups.

Brownfield housing still causing problems

From the Queens Chronicle:

A housing and hotel complex project off the Long Island Expressway in Fresh Meadows has neighbors fuming over lack of maintenance, shoddy workmanship and fear of future flooding.

The project’s address is 183-15 Horace Harding Expressway, but the 18 two-family houses that were completed over a year ago are located on adjacent 183rd Street and Booth Memorial Drive, residential streets with well-maintained homes.

Neighbors complain that there is no maintenance of the site, which features a large hole in the middle where the hotels are to be constructed. It was dug so that the project could be grandfathered in prior to a downzoning of the area.

Nearby residents say the hole attracts raccoons and other animals, while nearby barrels are filled with rainwater that they fear are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The construction fences on the Horace Harding and Booth Memorial sides are flimsy and the one in the rear can be easily moved. Vandals have already stolen decorative metal balls atop railings on the houses.

Christine Haider, first vice chairwoman of Community Board 11 and president of the nearby Harding Heights Civic Association, says she’s “extremely concerned” about how the development is being built. “There are so many problems, it’s very frustrating,” Haider said. “The developer can amend plans until construction is finished.”

The most troublesome issue to neighbors is the driveways, which were designed too steep for the underground garages. The Department of Buildings did not approve it so the owners, Century Construction Group Corp., headed by brothers Chris and George Xu, raised the grade of the driveways, which eliminated the garages.

“They repitched it, eliminating the garage, so there’s no room for two cars as planned,” Haider said. “We fear that they will try to put a third family in the basement since they added a window where the garage door was to go.”

Oh come now, when have you ever heard of a developer doing that?...

It seems like just yesterday that this was a brownfield.

Avella's brownfield bill passed by Senate

From Bayside Patch:

The state Senate has passed a bill proposed by Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, that would require the city’s Department of Environmental Conservation to notify any community board of new brownfield site cleanups.

Current DEC regulations require a period of public comment for a brownfield cleanup request. Adjacent property owners, nearby schools and local newspapers must also be notified.

But Avella said community boards should also be notified because they are often instrumental in soliciting public comment from the neighborhoods they represent.

Avella said he was inspired to introduce the bill by the Waterpointe-Whitestone brownfield site. Community Board 7 had been holding committee meetings regarding the site, but were never informed of the initial plan for a cleanup at the site.

Legislators want CB notification of brownfield cleanups

From Bayside Patch:

Three state legislators representing northeast Queens have introduced legislation that would require the city to notify community boards of brownfield cleanups in their vicinity.

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside and state Assemblymen Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, and Michael Simanowitz, D-Flushing, are calling on the city’s Department of Environmental Conservation to keep all of the city’s community boards in the loop when a new brownfield site cleanup will take place.

The state legislators initiated the bill after Community Board 7 was not notified by the city about the Waterpointe-Whitestone brownfield cleanup site.

The bill recently passed the state Senate’s environmental conservation committee.

Concern over cleanup under the "Queensway"

From the Queens Courier:

The cleanup of polluted soil in Ozone Park has some residents worried toxic chemicals have spread throughout the neighborhood.

End Zone Industries will begin a long-awaited project to remove just a few inches of tainted soil from under eight storage bays under the abandoned Rockaway Beach LIRR line. The bays are between 101st and 103rd Avenues, from north to south, and 99th to 100th Streets, east to west.

Company representatives briefed Community Board 9 about the project at its April 9 meeting – with some board members upset about the project.

...concerns over a spread chemical, Trichloroethylene (TCE), business disruption and other concerns had board members skeptical about the project. TCE is an organic chemical that’s been used in cleaning solvents, paint thinner and pepper spray, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr. Vincent Evangelista, whose podiatry office is nearby the cleanup, expressed concern over the TCE-tainted brown water about 30 feet under the surface. Evangelista asked Austin and End Zone representatives if the contaminated soil, deemed by End Zone to be non-hazardous, immediately stopped outside of the allotted bays.

Austin acknowledged the soil could have spread to other parts of the neighborhood, but most of it has not been tested.

“There’s always unknowns when you dig underground and into dirt,” he said.