'Save Gowanus' Planning Community Rally To Voice Concerns About Lightstone Group Project On Thursday Evening

rendering by Lightstone Group

Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn....
'Save Gowanus' is planning a rally on Thursday night at the Carroll Street bridge to protest the Lightstone Group's 12 story, 700 unit project at 363-365 Bond Street on the shores of the Gowanus Canal.

Save Gowanus is composed of Gowanus residents and home-owners living near the site on Bond Street between Carroll Street and 2nd Street, as well as members of civic groups Friends of Bond (FOB) and Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG)

Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is scheduled to attend and will be speaking with concerned community members about the impact the Lightstone apartment complex will have on the community and on the Gowanus flood zone.

From a FROGG press release:
"This is not a rally to endorse Thompson's mayoral candidacy; instead, it is a chance "to bring broader attention to the issue of irresponsible development (which endangers scale, zoning, schools, transit and health and safety) in the context of the mayoral race.
It is extremely urgent that as many of you attend as possible. Please invite your neighbors as well. We need to show all our elected representatives how important this issue is to our community. They've already heard from the developers and their lobbyists; now it's our turn to be heard. This is the protest that will hopefully help bring attention to our issue in the media and the mayoral race."

***UPDATE  From Save Gowanus

Tonite's rally, which will be attended both by the media and by Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, is still scheduled to happen at the Carroll Street Bridge.

However, in chance of rain, we'll be moving indoors to the community room of Mary Star of the Sea, 41 1st Street.

Keep your eyes peeled to the website, savegowanus.org, to find out if the rally has been moved to that indoor location.

Read More

Is Lightstone Group Tearing Down Gowanus Building On Development Site Without Proper Permits?

photo credit:Jeff Anzulewicz

Meanwhile, back in Gowanus...
I am still in France but have received a string of emails from Gowanus residents reporting that workers began tearing down the roof of an old brick building at 363-365 Bond Street, between 1st and 2nd Street yesterday. The building is located on the site of the 700-unit, 12 story Lightstone Group development.

According to reports, a crew of about 25 men with pick axes and saws started demolishing the rooftop of the building yesterday afternoon. Gowanus residents became concerned when they realized that no permits had been posted. More troubling was the fact that no asbestos monitoring equipment was present on site and the crew did not wear any protective gear.

Residents contacted Councilman Brad Lander's office and Community Board 6 to ask that the work be done according to local laws, with proper permits, and proper protections for workers and the local community. They also placed several calls to 311. Inspectors came out to the site later in the day and work stopped yesterday afternoon at about 2 pm.
Today, a crew was back building a plywood fence around part of the building. In addition, red and yellow caution tape with the words "Danger-Asbestos" has been put up.
NYC Department of Buildings has recorded a 'pre-filing' for the site on its web site. A permit for a plywood fence has also been recorded. There is, however, no sign of a demolition permit.

In addition, Lightstone has applied for the NY State  Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfield Cleanup Program. The program requires that any action on the site be first approved by the agency. It is likely that demolition work would also need to be approved.

This not a very good start for Lightstone Group and its highly contentious project.  Stay tuned for more...it's bound to be a long hot summer in Gowanus.

Read More

It Took A Long Time, But Warehouse Conversion At 333 Carroll Street Getting Closer To Completion

It has taken a very long time and quite a few twists and turns, but it appears as though construction on 333 Carroll Street, between Hoyt and Bond Street, is getting closer to being completed. A few windows have been installed, and now that some of the netting has been removed from the scaffolding, it is easier to imagine what the building will look like when it is all done.

Permits to convert the lovely old brick manufacturing building into residential condominiums were first filed in 2005.  Owner/developer  Isaac Fischman of AMI Development, LLC, had hired bad boy architect Robert"Mezzanine" Scarano to convert an old brick manufacturing building into 30 units. As part of the plans, a two story, 40 foot steel addition was erected on top of the old structure.

Alarmed by the size of the addition, residents asked the NYC Department of Buildings to review the plans, which revealed that Scarano had been more than creative with the floor-air-ratio (FAR) calculations. The Building's Department confirmed in March 2008, that the architect has lied on the application, claiming that the cellar was a basement. Scarano intended to use the "habitable" basement for parking and had transferred the square footage onto the roof. A stop-work order was issued on March 4th 2008 and the developer fired Scarano.

Eventually, Fischman replaced Scarano with another controversial architect, Karl Fischer, to resolve the floor-area-ratio problem. Fischer, the architect behind the 11 story 'finger' at 100 Luquer street, filed for an amendement, which he self-certified. The DOB accepted an audit in October 2009 and new permits were issued.

However, by then, the neighborhood had organized and, with the help of the Department of City Planning, was able to down-zone Carroll Gardens. Unlike the neighborhood's original R6 zoning, the new R6B zoning has a 50 foot height limit. The City Council voted the re-zoning into law on October 28, 2009.

As with any re-zoning, all construction projects were served with a stop-work-order and were re-visited by DOB to see if construction was far enough along to be vested under the old zoning. In the case of 333-335 Carroll Street, DOB determined that only 15% of the work has been completed and therefore needed to comply with the new 50 foot hight limit. Another stop work order was issued.

Finally, in April 2011, the steel structure, which was so hideous that many in the community had begun referring to 333 Carroll Street as the 'hunchback' building or "hell house", was taken down. Work on the actual building finally resumed under Nicholas Scire-Chianeta of NSC Architecture, P.C. a few months later.

Since construction began, the site has raked up 60 complaints and 22 DoB violations (of which 9 are still open).  I bet neighbors will be happy to see this project completed.

A reminder of what it looked like:

The building at 333 Carroll Street in 2011 with the illegal addition

Read More

A Moment In Time: In A Cloud Of Dust

A worker enveloped in a cloud of dust.

Green Building On Union Street near Gowanus Canal.

Read More

Gowanus Goslings: Pair Of Canada Geese Raises Little Ones Near Canal

Gowanus resident Eymund Diegel came across a pair of Canadian geese who were on an outing with their little ones over the week-end.  Thankfully, he had his camera with him and was able to snap the photos above.
Eymund writes:

"On our way to train for the Gowanus Challenge, the upcoming canoe race, we came across two nesting pairs of Canada Geese, one on the Marmurstein Bus Lot (opposite Bond Street) and another family opposite Public Place at Huntington Street at the base of the former Subway Art History Museum.The brick building on Bond Street behind the Gowanus Goslings was originally built in 1904 (or slightly earlier (construction started 1900) and was built for the Empire City Hygiea Ice Company, the largest Brooklyn shipper of ice around the Gowanus neighborhood (285 tons per day in 1909).Hans [Hesselein] and the Clean & Green Team at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, located directly opposite the building of interest, were kind enough to donate an original beer bottle of the Leonhard Michel Brewing Company that also operated in that building. Historically sensitive beer drinkers can view the bottle at the Hall of the Gowanus at 543 Union Street."

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Eymund.

Read More

Are You Having Home Or Business Insurance Problems Post-Sandy? If Yes, Contact State Senator Montgomery's Office As Soon As Possible

Are you having difficulties collecting a Sandy-related claim related to your home or business in the area? Has your insurer recently sent you a cancellation or no-renewal letter?
Do you have any other issues related to your home or business insurance?
If the answer is yes, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, whose district encompasses flood prone Red Hook and Gowanus, would like to hear from you as soon as possible.
Please email her office at montgome@nysenate.gov.  Please write SD25 Insurance Study in the subject line

Read More

Four New Townhouses In The Works For Degraw Street

Here is a bit of news from Degraw Street. H Holding Group of Key Gardens, a real estate investment and development firm founded by Sharon Hakmon, is going to build five four-story townhouses on an site between Hoyt and Bond Streets, that had previously been used as a parking lot.

According to an illustration on a sign hung on the fence surrounding the lot, the homes will have stoops and cornices.

There is no mention of the projects on the firm's web site yet and there isi no indication whether these will be one family homes or if hey will be divided into 4 units each.

What do you think of the design?

Read More

Reminder! Two Important EPA Meetings This Week To Discuss Proposed Gowanus Canal Cleanup Plan

As many of you no doubt already know, on December 27th, the Environmental Protection Agency released the Proposed Plan for the Superfund clean-up of the Gowanus Canal. The agency has scheduled two public meetings, one in Carroll Gardens and the second in Red Hook, to discuss the details and to answer questions about the plan. I urge everyone in the community to attend since this is the best opportunity to speak directly with Christos Tsiamis, EPA's Project Manager for the Gowanus and with members of his team. So come prepared with your questions.

Above, pleased find the details about the meetings.  *Note that the time for the Carroll Gardens meeting has been changed from 7 PM to 6:30 Pm to allow for more time.

To access the EPA’s proposed plan for the Gowanus Canal site or for more information on the canal, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/gowanus/ or visit the EPA’s document repositories at the Carroll Gardens Library at 396 Clinton St. in Brooklyn or the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn.

The EPA will accept public comments on its proposed plan until March 28, 2013.
Written comments on the proposed plan should be addressed to:

Christos Tsiamis

Project Manager

Central New York Remediation Section

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway, 20th Floor

New York, New York 10007-1866

e-mail: GowanusCanalComments.Region2@epa.gov

OR, contact Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator, at 212-637-3639,

Read More

Checking In On The Gowanus Whole Foods Site

Gowanus Whole Foods site as seen from Third Street Bridge

Looking at the store's future parking lot

From Third Street

From Third Avenue

The foundation of the future store

Waterproofing applied to foundation

Work at the future Whole Foods Market site at Third Avenue and Third Street and Gowanus has progressed quite a bit over the last few weeks.

The approximately 2.15 acre lot on the shores of the Gowanus Canal has now been fully remediated under the Brownfield Clean-Up Program and underground tanks and soil impacted with contaminants have been excavated and disposed of.

The site, originally comprised of a conglomeration of urban fill unsuitable for load bearing, had varying street elevations and a grade change of up to 12 feet'. In the last few weeks, the land has been backfilled and graded.

Towards Third Avenue, the foundation for the actual store has already been poured.
Crews are currently applying the heavy duty waterproofing material needed because of the high water table at that location. The site also lies in a Flood Zone A.

I was a bit curious about the "Warning Soil Remediation Exclusion sign" that is still prominently displayed on the lot towards the Canal, especially since I had heard that the clean-up had been completed.

I sent the photo to the Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 office to inquire. The agency reached out to BL Companies, the architectural engineering contractor at the Gowanus Canal site.

Here is the response:

"BL Company clarified that remediation of the site is complete. They also clarified that the sign “Soil Remediation Exclusion Zone” should read “Warning Exclusion Zone”. Exclusion zones are set up on the site during construction activities to prevent unqualified/unauthorized personnel from entering specific areas of the site. Apparently, there was an oversight and the existing signs will be replaced with new ones accordingly."

Read More

Someone's Been Beautifying Gowanus With Lots Of Flowers

The waters of the Gowanus Canal may still be foul, but a garland of brightly-colored flowers and some hand-drawn chalk patterns on the Carroll Street bridge certainly has made the polluted waterway a whole lot prettier, no?

And just one block away, a whole lot of cut-out paper flowers attached to a brick wall at the corner of Bond Street and Second Street in Gowanus add a very nice touch to a rather drab brick building.

Does anyone know who the artist is?

Read More

EPA Region 2 Releases Its Proposed Plan For The Superfund Clean-Up Of The Gowanus Canal

As planned, EPA Region 2 just released its proposed plan for the clean-up of the Gowanus Canal. This is great news for the Gowanus Community. Even better news still is that the proposed plan also includes "controls to prevent raw sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup."
It's a huge step, which brings us ever so closer to actually starting the actual clean-up of the polluted waterway. The fact that the proposed plan addresses the Combined Sewer Overflow is a major victory for neighborhood residents, who had advocated that the CSO issue be resolved.
Below is the EPA press release:

EPA Proposes Plan for Cleaning Up Gowanus Canal

Multi-million Dollar Cleanup to Revitalize Polluted Brooklyn Waterway

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal that includes removing some of the contaminated sediment and capping dredged areas. The proposed plan also includes controls to prevent raw sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup. The cost of the cleanup plan is expected to be between $467 and $504 million.

The EPA will accept public comments on its proposed plan until March 28, 2013. The EPA will hold
public meetings on January 23, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at Public School 58 (the Carroll School), 330 Smith
Street, Brooklyn and on January 24, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110
West 9th Street, Brooklyn to discuss the proposed plan and answer questions.

“The proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal will make essential progress in removing toxic
contaminants from this heavily polluted and battered waterway,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional
Administrator. “Our overall goal is to reduce pollution and protect the health of people who live and
work in this community. The EPA encourages people to attend the January public meetings on the
proposed plan and submit written comments no later than March 28.”

More than a dozen contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, including mercury, lead and copper, were found at high levels in the sediment in the Gowanus Canal. PAHs and heavy metals were also found in the canal water. PAHs are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage or other organic substances. PCBs were used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment and their manufacture was banned in 1979. PCBs and PAHs are suspected to be cancer-causing and PCBs can have neurological effects as well. Consumption of fish from the canal continues to this day notwithstanding fish advisories.

Completed in the mid-1800s, the Gowanus Canal was once a major industrial transportation route.
Manufactured gas plants, paper mills, tanneries and chemical plants are among the many facilities that
operated along the canal. As a result of years of discharges, stormwater runoff, raw sewage overflows
from sewer systems that carry sanitary waste from homes and rainwater from storm drains and
industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal has become one of the nation's most seriously contaminated
water bodies. In 2010, the Gowanus Canal was added to the Superfund list of the nation’s most
contaminated hazardous waste sites. The EPA has identified numerous parties that are potentially
responsible for the contamination including National Grid and the city of New York.

The evaluation of the alternatives for cleaning up the Gowanus Canal was divided into three segments
that correspond to the upper, middle and lower portions of the canal. The first segment, which runs
from the top of the canal to 3rd Street, and the 2nd segment, which runs from 3rd Street to just south of
the Hamilton Avenue Bridge, contain the most heavily-contaminated sediment. In the third segment,
which runs from the Hamilton Avenue Bridge to the mouth of the canal, the sediment is less
contaminated than sediment in the other segments.

For the first and second segments of the canal, the EPA is proposing to dredge approximately 307,000
cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment. In some areas where the sediment is contaminated with
liquid coal tar, the EPA is proposing to stabilize the sediment by mixing it with concrete or similar
materials. The stabilized areas would then be covered with multiple layers of clean material, including
an “active” layer made of a specific type of clay that will remove PAH contamination that could well up from below, an “isolation” layer of sand and gravel that will ensure that the contaminants are not
exposed, and an “armor” layer of heavier gravel and stone to prevent erosion of the underlying layers
from boat traffic and currents. Finally, clean sand would be placed on top of the “armor” layer to restore the canal bottom as a habitat. The plan also calls for removing contaminated material placed in the 1st Street Turning Basin decades ago.

For the third segment, the EPA is proposing to dredge 281,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment
and cap the area with an armor layer and a layer of sand to help restore habitat.

The proposed plan includes various methods for managing the contaminated sediment after dredging,
depending on the levels of contamination. The proposed methods include transporting the dredged
sediment to an off-site permitted disposal facility, transporting it to a location where the sediment can
be treated and the possible beneficial reuse of some of the sediment after treatment.

In addition, the proposed plan calls for additional controls to significantly reduce combined sewer
overflows into the canal. The EPA is concerned that such overflows would contribute to the
recontamination of the canal after its cleanup. The EPA is proposing that combined sewer overflow
discharges from two major outfalls in the upper portion of the canal be outfitted with controls to reduce
the total volume of discharges from those outfalls by 58% to 74%.

Contaminated land sites along the canal, including three former manufactured gas plants, are being
addressed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Other potential sources
of continuing contaminant discharges to the canal have been referred to the state of New York and will
be investigated and addressed as necessary.

Written comments on the proposed plan should be addressed to:

Christos Tsiamis

Project Manager

Central New York Remediation Section

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway, 20th Floor

New York, New York 10007-1866

e-mail: GowanusCanalComments.Region2@epa.gov

OR, contact Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator, at 212-637-3639,

To read EPA’s proposed plan for the Gowanus Canal site or for more information on the canal, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/gowanus/ or visit the EPA’s document repositories at the Carroll Gardens Library at 396 Clinton St. in Brooklyn or the Joseph Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn. The documents will be available in the repositories on December 28, 2012.

For a Google Earth aerial view of the Gowanus Canal, visit
http://www.epa.gov/region2/kml/gowanus_creek_and_gowanus_canal.kmz.  (Please note that you must have Google Earth installed on your computer to view the map. To download Google Earth, visit
http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html).

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

Read More