Plan garbage tower near airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will review its approval of an 11-story garbage tower to be located close to LaGuardia Airport after a petition was sent in, calling into question the structure’s safety.
The FAA did not release the names of the petitioners, and there is no timeline for when the matter will be decided, said Jim Peters, an FAA regional representative.
Recently, flabbergasted politicians blasted the plans for the tower at the foot of one of LaGuardia’s runways, and called on the FAA to call off construction of the proposed “North Shore Marine Transfer Station.”
“Aside from the seemingly obvious threat posed by an 11-story Marine Transfer Station at the foot of a busy runway, I have grave concerns that hungry birds eagerly circling this proposed trash tower pose an enormous threat to planes landing at LaGuardia,” Congressmember Gary Ackerman wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey.
Joining Ackerman in criticism for the plan were Congressmembers Joseph Crowley, Anthony Weiner, Gregory Meeks, and Carolyn Maloney.
“This is a dangerous plan that should have been grounded before takeoff,” Maloney said.
The Department of Sanitation of New York (DSNY), which is constructing the 110-foot tower, is currently seeking a State permit for the tower, and a reversal in the FAA’s go-ahead could affect whether a permit is granted. The tower already received approval from the City Council and State Department of Environmental Conservation (SDEC) as part of a larger waste management project.
“The DSNY hopes to complete the state permit process by end of the year, start construction by 2008, and have it operational by the second half of 2010,” said Matthew LiPani, a spokesperson for DSNY.
LiPani said that the proposed tower will be located approximately 2150 feet to the east of LaGuardia Airport and just to the north of an existing facility, which is not operational.
Lawmakers worried that the location was too close to the airport’s eastern runway. Recently, Congressmember Gary Ackerman pointed out that the planned tower violated a safety guideline stipulated by the FAA in 2004, barring waste facilities from being built close-by to airports.
The guidelines prohibited structures to be built within 5,000 feet of airports operating propeller aircraft, within 10,000 feet of airports operating jet aircraft, and within five miles of airports when the construction will attract “hazardous wildlife,” like seagulls.
“Wisely, the FAA itself has previously determined that birds hovering near waste-transfer sites pose a real threat to aircrafts” said Ackerman. “So the FAA setup minimum distances away from airports where these types of facilities can be placed. I don’t know why the FAA would choose to make LaGuardia the exception to this logical policy.”