image via Save Gowanus
Please take the time to attend to hear an update on legal issues, fundraising, and getting support from local politicians.
Tuesday, June 4th @ 7 PM
Mary Star of the Sea
41 1st St. (bet. Hoyt and Bond)
And if you can, stop by to meet and talk to members of Save Gowanus at the Carroll Park Fair, Sun. June 2nd 11-6.
Please also take time to tell NYS Department Of Environmental Conservation to safeguard our community from impacts of Lightstone’s Brownfield Cleanup by emailing your comment regarding Lightstone's application before June 1st.
You can do so by sending the following letter prepared by Save Gowanus.
(Click here to send it directly from their web site.)
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC)
Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP)
John Grathwol, NYS DEC- Division of Environmental Remediation,
Remedial Bureau B,
625 Broadway,
12th Floor,
Albany, NY 12233-7016
Response to Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) application and Remedial Investigation Work Plan (RIWP) from LSG 400 Carroll Street LLC and LSG 363 Bond Street LLC for a site known as 400 Carroll Street and 363 Bond Street, site ID #C224173. This site is located in the City of Brooklyn, within the County of Kings, and is located at 400 Carroll Street and 363 Bond Street 11231
Redevelopment and Brownfield Cleanup Programs must take place in the context of our post-Sandy, climate change world. In Dec 2010 NYS issued the Sea Level Rise Task Force Report to the Legislature. The task force also recommends that city, county and state governments seriously consider abandoning whole areas of the coast altogether, to allow vegetation to gradually migrate away from the shoreline and give nature a chance to build more natural barriers to rising seas, hurricanes and severe storms known to hit the Northeast frequently. The report offered no other real solutions to this growing problem.
We are deeply concerned that the State of New York may be financially supporting and encouraging new large-scale residential development in flood-prone coastal districts which will also be subjected to the rising level of the sea. We are particularly concerned that such new large scale developments, while being designed in a manner to protect the new structures from flooding, will result in negative impact to flooding conditions in existing surrounding neighborhoods. We also are concerned about the prospects of adding large numbers of new residential buildings in flood districts that would require evacuation during storm conditions, even though the new structure may have sufficient freeboard to prevent flood damage to the building.
We believe that the State of NY should not extend state funding, in any form, to brownfield redevelopment sites in coastal areas that carry risks of of creating additional flood harm in the adjacent upland communities by altering region-wide coastal flooding and stormwater drainage patterns. We ask that any such property brought into the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program that is in a coastal area, be required to provide an objective and thorough region-wide hydrological impact study that describes how the area drainage would change given the proposed development.
We also ask that any brownfield remedy carried out in such an area be assessed and evaluated for its effectiveness under storm and flooding conditions. We ask that a detailed explanation be given on how the remedy and the proposed redevelopment construction will function as sea level base lines rise over the coming decades and century. The citizens should know if the re-investment of their tax dollars are being put to a good or frivolous use.
Stay connected to Save Gowanus via their website or via their Facebook page.
