Thursday, April 24, 2008

St. John's dorm construction a complete fiasco

This was the original condition of the grounds from the beginning.
Shows the filling of the drywells - which remained constantly flooded with water until they received the "sewer repair" permit - its safe to assume that they were funneling the water into the sanitation sewers.
The tankers used to drain the water. Despite the supposed installation of 16 drywells, the sides of the foundation is still flooded with water - we don't have a storm drainage system.

Dear Public Advocate Gotbaum;

We would like to bring to your attention a condition that is of great concern to many Jamaica Estates residents. We reside in close proximity to the Saint John’s University Henley Road dormitory facility in Jamaica Estates, Queens that is under construction at the present time. This site has been plagued with constant flooding regardless of whether it rains or not. We have witnessed the use of numerous oil tankers removing huge amounts of water only to have the flood return the following morning. Our layperson’s interpretation of the situation is, that the builders excavated below the water table, and this in conjunction with the fact that our community has underground streams, and years ago a fairly large lake existed adjacent to the dormitory site exacerbate this condition. Recently the builders were pouring concrete into this flooded site, a construction faux pas that could very well compromise the foundation of the building. This was followed by numerous failed waterproofing attempts, as sheet after sheet of soaked waterproofing material detached from the foundation walls.

It is important to note that the construction of this “community facilities project”, self certified by Architect Ramy Issac, proceeded without a community impact study. If this condition is manifesting itself early in the life of this project, I can only imagine the health issues water, mold and mildew will cause unsuspecting students in the future. It is disconcerting to think that this construction, partially financed by dormitory bonds and tax payer’s money, is allowed to proceed regardless of how many lives it endangers.

I hope that the City Council will consider including guidelines for new construction so abatement issues will not be necessary and we can live without mold related illnesses.

In addition, we welcome any assistance that you can afford us in addressing this matter. The Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates have kept an accurate log as well video footage, documenting the issues discussed above.

Thanking you in advance,
The Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates

7 comments:

yojimbot said...

wow that really sucks. this is a definite issue that continues to be poorly handled.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I'll want to dorm here either! SJU is one dorm fiasco after another they should have remained a commuter school. The campus is one huge construction site, mud everywhere not my idea of what college life. The SJU dorm selection process on April 12 left a very very bad taste, their arbitrary point selection process is absurd and the prospects of living in a mold filled dorm in the future unappealing to say the least.

Anonymous said...

This looks dangerous! The streets around the site flood constantly I can only imagine less trees less vegetation will make it worse!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Why is this such a big issue,give it up SJU! Students prefer to live in apartments anyhow. The list of apartments in the area that you compile is fine just make it longer. It is better and cheaper to get a few friends and share an apartment, the dorms are tiny and the food is terrible. Half the campus lives around the school anyhow and no one can tell you what to do.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a
West Nile Virus breeding ground!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

If the client/construction firm had a surety bonds agreement, then they can complain about any aspect of the construction with which they are unhappy.

Anyone who is thinking about getting bonded can look at a range of different options and bonding firms, who offer very effective services, such as JW Surety.