Saturday, November 15, 2014

College Point trash facility has yet to open

From the Queens Chronicle:

After five long years it appears that the North Shore Marine Transfer Station in College Point is finished, but when will it open?

There have been problems along the way. Some people opposed it because of its location near LaGuardia Airport. They feared birds would be attracted to the site and ultimately cause accidents with planes.

Eventually, the building’s three-story height was lowered by 12 feet and federal and Sanitation officials said the facility and its smells will be so confined that there will not be an issue with birds.

The garbage will be processed in an enclosed building that maintains air pressure to prevent escape of odors.

The $121 million North Shore MTS had also been opposed at one time by former Congressman Gary Ackerman, because of its proximity to LaGuardia. He believed it might be a hazard to airport traffic, since it is only 2,000 feet from one of the runways.

But the FAA assured him that safety requirements were being met.

Then there was trouble pile driving, which took longer than expected. The station is located at 120-15 31 Ave., the site of the original smaller transfer station, built in 1954, which was torn down.

But similar projects in other boroughs have taken an average of two to three years to complete. Sanitation officials expected the College Point project to take three years and be completed by 2013.

Gene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, said members had wanted to take a walk-through, but that he had received no updates from Department of Sanitation officials.

CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said she had heard the facility would open in December or early next year, but had no definite information.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Assurances or no assurances, I'm not buying into the belief the garbage transfer station is not going to attract birds. While the technology inside the facility may not produce odors that attract the flying rats, there's still the matter of the stench emanating from the trucks delivering their contents to the station.

Speaking of trucks, everybody seems to be ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The garbage transfer station will create a lot of traffic into southern College Point. The College Point Police Academy will open within the year as well. How are the trucks, cars, and buses supposed to navigate around the area? The roads are already in crap condition and even when they're repaired, they start sinking as soon as they're re-opened.

And the old airport road extension of Linden Place looks like it will be in use shortly. I don't see it as mitigating the heavy College Point traffic that already exists and the two facilities on the verge of opening their doors will certainly add to the problems. Of course, it's College Point and the elected officials that represent the constituency have once again failed miserably. What a shame!

Anonymous said...

Was anyone qualified to speak on such issues concerned about the birds causing plane crashes, or is that just the excuse the NIMBYs harped on?

Anonymous said...

Doesn't seem as though the. Linden Pl. extension project is likely to come to the originally predicted conclusion anytime soonn, seemingly terminating in a leftward dogleg @ 23rd Ave. near the N. end of the College Point Fields, consequently dumping the traffic onto 130 th. St. Instead
of the originally planned 132 nd St. Any jnfo/ comments?

Anonymous said...

Traffic is a fucking nightmare in that area!

Anyone that builds in that neighborhood is an idiot and has clearly never driven on 14th or 20th Aves or College Point Blvd.!!!!

They've clearly never taken Linden to the Whitestone Expressway either! It backs up all the way the Northern.

And there's extremely crappy public transpo in this area - one must have a car!

Anonymous said...

"Gene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, said members had wanted to take a walk-through,,,"
When the debate about the construction of the transfer station came up at CB7 some years ago, he recommended approval, and CB7 approved it.

Alan said...

"Was anyone qualified to speak on such issues concerned about the birds causing plane crashes, or is that just the excuse the NIMBYs harped on?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Is this good enough for you???

http://nypost.com/2011/08/16/sully-calls-la-guardia-garbage-station-location-terrible/

"The man who knows best what birds can do to a passenger jet today called the city’s plan to build a garbage transfer station near La Guardia Airport “terrible.”

Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009 after geese took out the jet’s engines, said the garbage station should be moved."

Anonymous said...

No sully isn't a good person to ask. Knowing what damage birds can do does not qualify you to know if birds will be in a place to cause damage.

I mean FAA engineers who can look at the design of the facility and determine what birds if any will be attracted, how high they fly, what other local issues might lead them into or away from flight paths etc...

Anonymous said...

There was a walk through and a presentation was also made to
CB-7

Anonymous said...

Annon 3:

"Doesn't seem as though the. Linden Pl. extension project is likely to come to the originally predicted conclusion anytime soonn, seemingly terminating in a leftward dogleg @ 23rd Ave. near the N. end of the College Point Fields, consequently dumping the traffic onto 130 th. St. Instead
of the originally planned 132 nd St. Any info/ comments?"

This is from Queens Chronicle last year, expected completion date of 2017 for the 23 to 20 avenue phase 2.


http://m.qchron.com/mobile/editions/north/more-delays-for-linden-place-work/article_b8d5ff97-12b6-530d-82b7-caa814f55485.html

Anonymous said...

"Speaking of trucks, everybody seems to be ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room."

Don't worry DOT will put up a few truck route signs and say that the truck problem is solved.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

No sully isn't a good person to ask. Knowing what damage birds can do does not qualify you to know if birds will be in a place to cause damage.

I mean FAA engineers who can look at the design of the facility and determine what birds if any will be attracted, how high they fly, what other local issues might lead them into or away from flight paths etc...
.............................................

Does the asylum know you escaped?

Anonymous said...

Isn't it about time Kelty and Apelian retire and Bitterman gets dumped for some qualified new blood with real ideas of service to the community?

Anonymous said...

When it does put Bitterman, Kelty and Apelian on the trash heap. That garbage has been conning the community for years. What is Bittermans salary up to now, $90,000 a year?

Anonymous said...

Maybe the former head of the NTSB would satisfy "Was anyone qualified" guy?

http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/experts-rip-transfer-station-near-lga/article_929ab1ca-a247-5f51-9cd2-347d97ff039d.html