Update On Gowanus Canal: After High Tide, Water Receding

Just took another walk down to the Gowanus Canal and found quite a few people on the Carroll Street Bridge on this Sunday after the storm.

The water level had gone down since the high tide mark at 8 AM. The owner of The Yard at Carroll on the Canal is checking out the situation. Earlier, his property had been flooded.

Some traces of the flooding are still visible between the trees on the property

The residents of the Satori, the condo building on Bond between Carroll and President obviously took precautions, piling sandbags against the building's front door.

Hope this was enough to prevent flooding in the building.

And last, but not least, as predicted, raw sewage is flooding

into the Gowanus Canal from the sewer overflow pipes.

Pretty disgusting, right?

I wonder how much was dumped into the canal during Irene.

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Public Place Gets Its Own Web Page Complete With Weekly Pollution Clean Up Updates

Last week-end, I walked by the highly toxic Public Place site and was surprised to find the gate wide open on the 5th Street site. Apparently, soil testing has been performed on an ongoing basis.
As per Tom Gray, District Director of City Council Member Bill de Blasio, National Grid, which is responsible for the clean-up of its former gas manufacturing site, has set up a web page to provide updates for neighbors and to keep the community informed about "the work that has been done, and provide an outlook and schedule for upcoming work, including information about any work that may impact normal community activities."

From the web page:

Public Place Weekly Update

Week Ended March 20, 2009

Remedial Design: Pre-Design Field Investigation

Pre-Design Field Investigations are ongoing at the former Citizens MGP as part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) approved Remedial Design Work Plan (RDWP). Work includes the installation of geotechnical borings to gather information required for the design of retaining structures in the areas to be excavated, product collection test wells to define NAPL collection rates and properties, and test pits to better define subsurface structures and existing bulkhead conditions. The site is broken down into four parcels as follows:

• Parcel I: Smith and 5th Streets
• Parcel II: Hoyt St along Gowanus Canal
• Parcel III: Smith and Huntington Streets
• Parcel IV: Hoyt and 5th Streets.

Activities Week of 03/ 16-20 /09:

• Groundwater level gauging on Parcels I, II and III.

Future (two week look-ahead) activities:

• No near-term activities planned. Parcel III Pre-Design Investigation to commence after warehouse demolition is complete.

Related Activities

Demolition activities related to the warehouse on Parcel III are being performed by the present property owner who has responsibility for those activities. National Grid is awaiting the foundation slab removal schedule and will implement the slab removal Community Air Monitoring Program when the foundation slab is removed.



For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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Stop Work Order Of The Day: Destroying Existing Building When Permit Only Allows Two Additional Floors

Back in November '08
Only beams of existing structure at 85 Third Street remained

                                           November '08: After demo

November '08: Original structure gone

85 Third Street Today

Looks suspiciously like a new structure

No sign of existing structure

Two 'Stop Work Orders' have been rescinded

So let me get this straight: A developer proposes a two-story addition to an existing building at 85 Third Street. He gets approval and a permit from the Department of Buildings. Then he proceeds to tear the existing structure down and puts a new structure in its place. 

I am not an expert, but even the latest permits seem to still mention that this is an alteration instead of new construction.Pardon me for asking, but is there something I am missing?

****UPDATE****

A reader passed along a photo f what 85 3rd Street looked like in the fall of '08 during demo

Thanks, Lisa De Brooklyn




Related Reading:

Stop Work Order Of The Day: Destroying Existing Building When Permit Only Allows Two Additional Floors

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