Contractors abandon Centreville sewer project

Joanne Cutitto

From the Queens Chronicle:

Workers at the Albert Road sewer project in the Centreville section of Ozone Park have not been spotted on site for close to a month, because they’ve been pulled for another job elsewhere.

While some area residents joked they’re enjoying the peace and quiet, they’re also fuming because the neighborhood has been left a mess by the workers there.

“People now have to live with the mess for a longer term than they should have to,” said Ozone Park Civic Association Howie Kamph. “It’s not fair to the residents.”

A Chronicle reporter on Monday saw streets ripped up and uneven, water mains exposed to the elements, and cones — which looked to be covering a pothole — left in the middle of the street.

“It looks like a third-world country,” said resident Joanne Cutitto. “It’s like there’s no pride in their workmanship.”

The Department of Design and Construction did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story — including if they’re chasing down the contractor, Maspeth Supply, to finish the taxpayer-funded work in the time laid out in the contract.

A person answering the phones at Maspeth Supply — which, according to city records, has received hundreds of millions of dollars in city contracts for water main and sewer work — said to send an email to the company’s owner, which was not responded to by press time.

Sewer project will shave off guy's living room

From the Times Ledger:

The city is taking more than 20,000 square feet from Ozone Park residents under the eminent domain law. The private property grab is meant to alleviate flooding and replace the underground sewage system in the area. For many residents, the project is a long overdue relief. But for some residents, especially those on Bristol Avenue, the changes require them to give up 14 feet deep into their property to make room for widened streets and to install sewer lines in their homes.

The city estimates the cost of the project, called HWQ411B, at more than $41 million. The repairs will include the installation of about 200 catch basins, 15 manholes and thousands of square feet of new sidewalks. According to the Department of Design and Construction, everything will be done by 2018.

“They want to buy the first 14 feet of my house, that puts them in my living room,” Carlos Reitez said. “I have a problem with them forcing me to sell my land to them.”

Reitez recently paid $10,000 for a new holding tank for his household’s waste. While the city will pay “market value” for the land they take from homeowners, they won’t pay Reitez for the costs to install a sewer system.

Reitez said that a city agent told them that the city would only remove the first five feet of his property, which would eat up just his stoop, to make room for a sidewalk. “But then why do they need to buy 14 feet from me?,” he said.

Will Centreville finally get sewers?

From The Forum:

To Centreville residents, or those who live close to Albert Road in Ozone Park, the mere mention of the now 30-years-overdue sewer and infrastructure project for the area will likely be met with more than a bit of skepticism.

The project, first proposed as far back as the Koch administration by the city Department of Design and Construction, is essentially a $42 million plan to alleviate flooding and improve drainage in the area bounded by Linden Boulevard to N. Conduit Avenue, Cross Bay Boulevard to Hawtree and Cohancy streets.

And although the three-year construction plan, which calls for the installation of new catch basins, curbs, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps, sewers and roadway throughout Centreville and the Albert Road area, looks to be finally getting underway, a hard and fast start date continues to be elusive.

Part of the reason for the project’s seemingly endless delays may be rooted in the fact that the city had to acquire private property in order to replace and rebuild sidewalks. And, those familiar with the process say it is both lengthy and time-consuming while residents relocate and await property payments from the city.

At a presentation to the Ozone Park Civic Association this past June, DDC officials listed spring/summer 2015 as the “anticipated” start dates for the major construction.

New school for Centreville

From the Queens Chronicle:

A vacant plot of land in the Centreville section of Ozone Park will be home to a brand-new elementary school in three years, if the Department of Education’s plans, which were previewed at Community Board 10 last Thursday, come to fruition.

The site — a triangle shape bordered by Albert Road, Raleigh Street and North Conduit Avenue — has always been vacant, often overgrown with tall grass and weeds in one of the few neighborhoods in Queens with space to spare.

But in recent years, developments have begun to pop up in the low-lying part of Centreville between Centreville Street, Aqueduct Race Track and Pitkin and North Conduit avenues. With the new homes have come new families, with children.

The result is more overcrowded schools and an often perilous commute to class. For students living in Centreville, the closest elementary schools are PS 63, which requires crossing Cross Bay Boulevard, and PS 146 in Howard Beach, mandating parents to drive — or walk a dangerous route — across North Conduit Avenue.

Centreville sewer project delayed once again

From the Queens Chronicle:

It’s been 30 years, what’s another 10 months?

The massive infrastructure project for Centreville, HWQ411B, is facing another delay.

The city Department of Design and Construction says work, originally scheduled for the Koch administration, will not begin until Spring 2015 with an estimated completion date of July 2017.

But at the Ozone Park Civic Association’s meeting last week, Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) — who was born five years after the project was first proposed — said there is at least one sign of progress.

A contractor has been chosen.

But that’s where the good news ends.

Centreville may actually get sewers soon

From the Forum South:

Councilman Eric Ulrich confirmed the news that Ozone Park residents have been waiting to hear for more than three decades—the city will begin construction on the capital project known as HWQ411B in March of 2014.

Tell a Centreville resident that the city will soon launch a sewer and roadway construction project first proposed more than three decades ago, and it is not unlikely they will scoff – loudly – and say their final demise is expected sooner than the city making good on its plan.

“This is ongoing since the 1980s – every time they tell me they’re going to be digging, it’s like the story of the boy who cried wolf,” Ozone Park Civic Association President Howard Kamph said of the HWQ411B construction project. “I’ve been here since 1982, and my neighbor told me then to not bother doing the sidewalks because we’ll be getting new sidewalks, streets, everything. That hasn’t happened, and most of my neighbors said they’re going to be dead before this happens.”

But, Kamph said residents may soon be whistling a new tune – not to mention live to see the completion of the $45 million, three-year project, which would include the replacement of streets, sidewalks, curbs, pedestrian ramps, water mains, and sanitary sewers, as well as the installment of new storm drains in the Centreville area. According to a Feb. 27 email from the city Department of Design and Construction to Kamph, the city said it expects to break ground on the now infamous project in February or March of 2014.

The project is slated to occur in the area included in 135th Avenue and Linden Boulevard South to Albert Road and North Conduit Avenue, and bounded by Cross Bay Boulevard to the west and the railroad right-of-way along the Aqueduct Racetrack to the east.

“Please be advised that the final design for this project is nearing completing, and we anticipate completing the design in early spring 2013,” the DDC representative wrote in the email to Kamph. “Thereafter, the construction contract will be bid in summer.”

First announcing plans for the project in the early 1980s, the city has since “given excuses all the way down the road” as to why it could not begin, including a lack of funds and difficulty acquiring property, Kamph said. Ultimately, the city had to use eminent domain to acquire some property, such as sidewalks. No houses were taken as part of the eminent domain process, and the city said it expects to pay owners for the property used in the project around November 2013 to February 2014.

A Walk Through Centreville

Click photo for story.

The greatest mystery I have ever come across in the area is "What the hell was this on Cohancy Street?":


Been in that condition for a decade or more.

Is eminent domain coming to Centreville?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Some residents of the Centreville section of Ozone Park are feeling a bit uneasy about a letter sent out last week by the city Department of Design and Construction regarding the long-proposed HWQ411B sewer project.

The DDC sent out letters this week to many residences near the proposed project area, stating that the city might need to use eminent domain to acquire some property in order to complete the work.

The letter does not state how much property the city would need to seize, or even if it will definitely need to enter eminent domain proceedings, only that it is a possibility.

However, the warning has gotten many of those who received the letter worried enough that the Ozone Park Civic Association has arranged for a representative from the DDC to speak at its next meeting on Tuesday to provide more details.

An inquiry to the DDC about the letter was not returned as of press time.

The HWQ411B project has long been a point of consternation in the neighborhood.

Originally proposed 30 years ago, the plan calls for the replacement of several water mains and sanitary sewers in the area, along with the additions of new storm drains, which would help alleviate the community’s long-time flooding problem.

The DDC has said that the project is funded for Fiscal Year 2011, and that the project could begin as soon as early next year, though no definitive timeline has been given.

However, many in the area are skeptical the project will ever take place, as countless public hearings and meetings have been held on its status in the interceding years since it was first proposed.

SCA snaps up NYRA lots "for future use"

From the Forum West:

As part of the recent Aqueduct land sale of vacant lots in the Centreville area of Ozone Park, the School Construction Authority has purchased two lots which according to sources will be “banked for future use.” Residents began calling the office of Councilman Eric Ulrich last week when they noticed work crews around the parcels of land cleaning and fencing in the property.

The councilmember noted that no school construction at the location is included in the five year capital plan enacted with the passing of this year’s budget.

Chief Administrative Officer for NYRA, John Ryan, stated that NYRA sold the lots to the city, and a review of ACRIS property records show the deed transfer for both lots filed on July 1, 2009. The sale price for the property was listed at $4.2 million.

The tract of land lies off the Conduit on Albert Road between Huron and Raleigh Streets.

Centreville still getting the shaft from DOT

From the Queens Chronicle:

When members of the Ozone Park Civic Association meet next Tuesday evening to discuss — yet again — the ongoing saga that has become Centreville’s HWQ411B street construction project, President Howard Kamph will not be holding his breath for good news, or much news at all.

Throughout his civic career, Kamph has endured 25 years of start-and-then-stop action when it comes to the project, which calls for the reconstruction of all streets, sidewalks, curbs and pedestrian ramps along 28 blocks in Ozone Park.

Since 1984, the Departments of Design and Construction and Transportation have provided myriad explanations for why the project has not been started yet, including difficulty acquiring property in the area and the latest excuse: that the residents on Bristol Street do not want their road redone. Kamph says excuses are not good enough.

“I call this the ghost project of the DOT,” he said. “We’re frustrated with useless meetings and projects that never get done. All I can say is: if they were working for Donald Trump, they all would have been fired.”

Residents and community organizers say the area’s streets are dangerous and neglected. HWQ411B, which calls for the replacement of water mains and sanitary sewers, also includes plans to construct new storm sewers, an urgent fix in a neighborhood that suffers from an overwhelming flooding problem.

Hey, why not go directly to the top?

Monday, June 15, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
Queens Civic Congress Regular Meeting: City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan (from 7:15 - 8:00 p.m.)
Union Plaza Care Center, 33-23 Union Street, [five blocks north of Northern Boulevard]