Residents fault plan for traffic woes

Community leaders got the chance to grill School Construction Authority (SCA) officials about plans to build a high school on the Queens Hospital Center (QHC) campus in Jamaica Estates.
On Tuesday, March 27, neighborhood residents, civic groups, as well as local environmental scientist Dr. James Cervino questioned SCA reps in detail about the planned site remediation and proposed construction plans of the 800-seat Health and Sciences secondary school.
The proposal site occupies 64,800 square feet on the south portion of the hospital’s campus - along Goethals Avenue between 160th and 162nd Streets. Slated for opening in 2010, the school would take students from the now-overcrowded Gateway to Health Sciences, so that the DOE could open another school in its place.
Before the informational meeting began, City Councilmember James Gennaro, who acted as the evening’s emcee, read a statement condemning the plan as is.
“It is simply not fair for the DOE to ask this community to host this facility, absorb its traffic impacts, tolerate its parking impacts, accept its noise impacts, deal with its overall quality of life and environmental impacts and bear all of these burdens,” Gennaro said.
“The fact of the matter is that students who wish to study health sciences can do so right now at the existing Gateway School less than three quarters of a mile down the street.”
However, James Elberfeld, managing architect with the SCA, who designed the new school, estimated that the current Gateway School, located at 150-91 87th Road in Jamaica, was operating at 118 percent capacity by the DOE’s latest estimates. In addition, he said that the new school would offer internship opportunities to students and unparalleled access to hospital facilities.
Cervino, a marine pathologist and biology professor at Pace University in Manhattan, called on the SCA and DOE to give the community more specific details about their plans - including what kind of soil would be used to replace petroleum-laden dirt now at the site and what agency would handle maintenance of a ventilation piping system underneath the school.
“If a fan breaks, will the City be responsible to fix it? How long will we have to wait?” Cervino asked.
Local residents also wondered about a traffic crunch at start and dismissal times and whether school officials could build a parking lot for schoolteachers and students - estimated to need 64 parking spaces - who would otherwise park on surrounding residential streets.
A parking study, conducted by private company Urbitran, found up to a 64 percent vacancy in parking spots half-mile or less from the planned school.
“What the existing conditions show is there are problems today, and there will be problems even without the construction of this school,” said Apma Sookram, Urbitran Vice President of Trafficking.
Nevertheless, residents, led by Kevin Forrestal, President of the Hillcrest Estates Civic Association, said that hospital staff members take many of the parking spaces on surrounding streets.
“When I leave, someone is waiting to take my spot,” Forrestal said.
There is a public hearing about the school scheduled by Community Board 8 for Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. at P.S. 168, located at 158-40 76th Road in Flushing.