Gowanus Community To Lightstone Group Regarding Gowanus Project: "You Can't Give Us Enough Sympathy For What We Are Going Through"

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Scott Avram,  Lightstone Group Senior Vice President of Development

Lee Weintraub, Landscape architect for Lightstone Group

Community Board 6 Manager Craig Hammerman

Councilmember Brad Lander

It was standing room only at Mary Star of the Sea's community room last night as Lightstone Group representatives updated local residents on the construction of their mega development at 363-365 Bond Street between Carroll Street and Second Street on the banks of the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal.

The meeting was a small concession to the community, which had to deal with months-long pounding noise and vibration from pile driving during Phase One of the project at 365 Bond Street.   Local residents made numerous calls to local elected officials and to various agencies to point out all kinds of violations at the construction site this past the summer. Many complaints were made to the Department of Health by neighbors who were reporting dizziness and headaches from fumes escaping from the Brownfield site after construction crews disturbed the contamination in the ground.

Representatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Department of Health,  NYC Department of Transportation, as well as NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development also attended last night's meeting.

It is important to note that the NYC Department of Buildings, which had been asked to send representation, did not do so.

As the start of Phase Two at 363 Bond Street is imminent, Lightstone was willing to answer questions from residents and to listen to their complaints last night. But first, the community needed to sit through a presentation.

According to Scott Avram,  Lightstone Senior Vice President of Development, completed work at the 700 unit development site includes:

-environmental Brownfield  remediation at 365 Bond Street under the supervision of NY State Department of Environmental Conservation

-foundation pile driving at 365 Bond Street

-initial foundation work at 365 Bond Street

-Sidewalk bridge and fence installation.

Upcoming work includes:

-remaining foundation work at 365 Bond Street

-Superstructure work at 365 Bond Street

-Brownfield site remediation at 363 Bond Street

-Test piles at 363 Bond Street

-Surveying and layout.

Avram acknowledged that the company had gotten complaints from the community regarding noise and vibration from pile driving, idling trucks at 6 AM in the morning on nearby residential blocks, after- hour and week-end work at the site, and fumes from  petroleum product that was being dug up during the environmental remediation and then trucked through the neighborhood.

"Your many concerns brought forth this meeting, " Avram said.  However,  he was very quick to add that during construction of Phase 1, the surrounding neighborhood had been monitored by an independent third party engineering firm, using air and vibration monitoring devices.

He also pointed out that the Department of Buildings had approved Saturday construction hours from 8 AM to 5 PM.

Avram blamed the early morning idling trucks on third party contractors. He blamed a homeless man living under the scaffolding at Second Street for the pile-up of trash. As for the after-hour work reported by residents, it had been an" isolated, unavoidable incident caused by mechanical issues during a cement pour".  It seemed that the Lightstone representative had an excuse for every inconvenience, problem and violation at the site. 

As for potential  damage to homes adjacent to the building site, one resident expressed dismay with Lightstone's responsiveness.

"We don't trust you in the year you have been building this thing. We have not gotten a straight answer about anything. We have gotten lots of denials, lots of  'oh, its within the limits', 'oh, DoB approved it", or  "it's all according to code", the resident told the developer's representatives.  "We have nothing from Lightstone  that says that you will take responsibility," he added.

Avram's response? "We can just build the job.  It's been approved by the Buildings Department. " Later he added: "We don't have to monitor, we don't have to survey.  No one is forcing us.  We are doing the best we can to answer some of your questions.  We are building a big project We are trying to do it quickly.  We are trying to be as unintrusive as possible.  We are building a big building.  We understand that it is loud and noisy."

One Gowanus resident probably expressed the feeling of the community best.  She said: "You have taken on a very controversial project. I want to very much appreciate your efforts to address our concerns  You said before that you could just put your head down and not do any monitoring. I just wanted to say that, to me, it's a moral responsibility that you are taking responsibility, that you are looking at these things. And I don't think that you can underestimate how much concern, upset and anxiety this has caused.  I don't think you can give us enough sympathy for what we are going through.  You are going to have your buildings, make your money and cut off the sky.  We are going to be left with the results."

If you live near the Lightstone site and need to report a problem,  please call 311, email Community Board 6 at info@BrooklynCB6.org and call the developer's hotline at 646 362 1500.