New Flushing River Garbage Station Facing Stiff Fight

Local business groups charge that the state DEC agencys decision will adversely impact Flushings broad economic progress by permitting operation of a giant refuse loading facility, that is adjacent to the business center, just across the Flushing River.
They also point out that the City had spent, or has committed, more than $300 million on various projects to upgrade downtown Flushings economy in the last decade.
Informed sources have told The Queens Courier that Shulman may attempt to thwart this phase of the garbage disposal program by speedily making portions of this area a part of an urban renewal plan within the next few months.
For the past decade, Shulman has advocated a broad development of this area to include a potential baseball stadium reconstruction, as well as new hotels, office buildings, and an entertainment complex.
Known as the "Iron Triangle," its dirty streets currently house car part and auto repair shops along its 13 mud-splattered blocks behind Shea Stadium.
Assemblywoman Toby Stavisky, concerned about the projects ecological impact, has already demanded that the DEC conduct an inspection of the proposed facilities to ensure that this operation is conforming to all environmental standards.
"Any deviation from proper transfer station procedures," declared Stavisky, "will have a serious impact on Flushing Bay and creek, nearby parkland as well as on the health of the entire population of Flushing and neighboring communities."
She was referring to comments made by C.B. 7 Chairperson Adrian Joyce that the proposed waste transfer station lacked a special storm sewer to handle treated leacheate emitted from the thousands of tons of fill that would be shipped from the center every week.
Stavisky wrote to John Cryan, acting director of Environmental Permits at the DEC to ask for an inspection of the premises to ensure that the operation conforms to all environmental standards. "Any deviation from proper transfer station procedures will have serious impact on Flushing Bay and Creek, nearby parkland as well as on the health of the empire population of Flushing and neighboring communities," said Stavisky in her letter.
Current plans call for the proposed transfer point to handle as many as 1,000 tons a day of Parks Dept. and city agency construction debris which are to be shipped to out-of-state sites.
Critics have also pointed out that up to 30 sanitation vehicles per day will arrive and depart from the station to haul this garbage. Key feeder arteries for these Sanitation Dept. trucks will be Northern Blvd., College Point Blvd., Roosevelt Ave., Main St., and Kissena Blvd. roadways that run alongside and through the busy business district.
State DEC spokesman Tom Kunkel said that, until now, there has been only a small number of complaints against the proposed transfer station since its initial proposal, early in 1999.
Local activists and C.B. 7 officials have charged that the dirt and the dust from the proposed nearby Sanitation depot will negate the thriving business communitys dramatic progress during the past ten years.
Fueled by its central commercial location, its major train and bus hubs, a rapidly expanding population, and an aggressive business community, downtown Flushing has made giant economic strides during the past decade. In order to accommodate its new banks, hotels, shops and offices, the recently rezoned business district is rapidly expanding westward to the shores of the Flushing River.
Helping to fuel the growth, local boosters point to the citys completed reconstruction of Main, Union and Prince Sts., a new main library, a new subway terminal, and a refurbished Town Hall. Sections of this districts key arteries traffic lights are scheduled to become computer-controlled to accommodate increased vehicular and pedestrian volumes.
Currently under construction, or in the final planning stages are a giant 28 million gallon sewage retention plant that is designed to clean up the Flushing River, as well as a proposed mile-long, tree-lined promenade along the river.
All these projects are within ten blocks of one another. The business community has also responded by opening hundreds of new shops and hundreds of new businesses, large hotels and a large number of new banks to accommodate the exploding new economy.
According to its application, the proposed facility will operate between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. The station will process between 500 to 1,000 tons of solid wastes per day. According to DEC, there are already four commercial transfer stations in Community Board 7.