By Matthew Monks
A contractor for AvalonBay Communities Inc. agreed to stop excavating three 10,000-gallon oil tanks from a lot on 48th Avenue and step up odor controls last Thursday after residents and administrators at a nearby elementary school complained to state officials about an overpowering gasoline stench, said Joseph Conley, chairman of Community Board 2.Work resumed Friday.”We're asking for answers on this,” Conley said. “The sense is these guys took some risks.”The problem returned months after a similar odor caused the state Department of Environmental Conservation to stop clean-up work for weeks on the so-called Pepsi Site next door to the lot.Both properties were home to early 20th century oil refineries and are slated for a luxury housing and commercial buildings in the $2.3 billion Queens West development on the East River.Now local residents are fuming at state officials who promised in November to enforce stricter odor controls and better update the public following the debacle with the Pepsi Site.”They basically assured us zero-tolerance for this type of stuff,” said George Rowe, a resident and board member of Citylights, a co-op building next door to the empty lot on 48th Avenue and 5th Street that was the source of last week's stench. “The community is basically being told they have to suck it up. We never agreed to that deal.”Gabrielle Done, spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Conservation, said the state is investigating the work by AvalonBay, which entered a voluntary clean-up agreement with the state in 2000 to decontaminate the property.”No violations have been issued to date and we are investigating the matter further to determine if any future enforcement action is necessary,” Done said. “Should odor issues resume, DEC will work with (AvalonBay) to reduce the nuisance and will shut down work if odors are not properly controlled.”Work resumed Friday after the contractor, Manhattan-based environmental planning and engineering consultant AKRF Inc., agreed to lay down more stench-buffering foam, said Michelle Lapin, an engineer with the firm.Before the odor problem, AKRF was putting down foam on excavated soil at the end of the day. Now it will spray it continually.The firm just started work last week on the site, where a 613-unit apartment complex is expected to open by the middle of 2006, according to AvalonBay.The property was occupied from 1915 to 1936 by the Blau Gas Company of America, which made petroleum-based fuel. On-site soil tests revealed elevated levels of petroleum-related organic compounds, mercury and lead, according to the DEC. Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
