Monday, November 17, 2014

Today's Heavy Rain Causes Flooding At Lightstone Site On Bond Street In Gowanus

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Rendering Of Lightstone Group's 700-unit development at 363-365 Bond Street in Gowanus

Below, photos of this afternoon's flooding at 363-365 Bond Street
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Photos above taken by Carl Teitelbaum

These photos of Bond Street at First Street were taken by Gowanus resident Carl this afternoon after a period of heavy rain.
The building under construction in the photos is 363-365 Bond Street, where Lightstone Group is currently building a 700-unit rental building.
No one in Gowanus will be surprised by the pooling water. After all, the site sits right in a flood zone.
During Hurricane Sandy, it was mostly under water.

Though Lightstone will raise its apartment complex ten feet above the flood level, the photos clearly indicate that heavy rainfall will still cause serious problems.

Local residents have begged local politicians for a hydrological study of the area to understand how new construction will affect older residences near the Lightstone building.

Just a reminder, Lightstone is meeting with the community tomorrow.  I urge everyone to attend.
Here is the meeting information:
Community Meeting Reminder: Lightstone Group To Provide Information On Construction Activity For Mega Gowanus Project



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9 comments:

Unknown said...

I know it's been coming down but this is not due to a astronomical high tide, rather than rain?

Anonymous said...

It's almost as if these units would have been better placed on Smith Street, right over a train and on high ground.

Oh wait, you and the other anti-development people downzoned those areas...

Jay said...

@Anonymous, it's not as if there's a requirement that There Must Be More Soulless Glass Condos.

Just because you can't build them in one place doesn't mean you should build them somewhere else.

Maybe, I dunno, just don't.

Anonymous said...

It does appear that these photos were taken at high tide, but the tide was rather low in the tidal cycle. I'm pretty sure this location doesn't flood at every high tide. High tide + heavy rain + lots of leaves on the ground to clog up gutters = flooding.

fred said...

No high tide yesterday ( http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/locations/753.html?y=2014&m=11&d=17 )
The precipitation was 1.04 in for yesterday ( 24 hrs ) which is noticeable but not exceptional as the storm did not last too long; we got more in the past.
This type of flooding happens regularly in this area; no need to find good reasons.

Anonymous said...

I live a block away and have watched this happen every autumn during heavy rain. This is all about leaves clogging up storm drains and water coming down from Hoyt St., not from the canal. I am sure my neighborhood nimbys would love to blame Lightstone for this but it has nothing to do with them.

Anonymous said...

There are no storm drains there; it's a combined sewer. THose leaves clogging the street grates are actually preventing more sewage from backing up in our houses.
The problem is that the surface rain water ca no longer drain down the hill to the swamp land because the developer has plugged up that drainage route by pouring concrete over every square inch of the marsh land.

Anonymous said...

"Just because you can't build them in one place doesn't mean you should build them somewhere else. "

Ahh yes, I forgot that al of a sudden no one wanted to live in NY, and the pressure of no supply and world wide demand had eased. Great point. No need for any new housing in Brooklyn or NYC at large.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, David Lefkowitz, for selling this site to the developers. Thank you Buddy Scotto for you tireless efforts to bring megadevelopment to Gowanus. Credit where credit is due.