Seek CB review of Con Ed land sales

One Queens politician would like to put the kibosh on Con Edison’s plan - to sell off an Astoria lot so that a FedEx facility can be created on the property - by letting community groups have a say.
A bill introduced by Assemblymember Michael Gianaris recently would allow community boards to make recommendations about the sale of properties by utility companies - a bill tailored almost entirely to a plan by Con Ed to sell a 21-acre property in Astoria to a developer, who would lease the land to FedEx.
“Con Edison loves to operate in the shadows and to do what it wants without concern for the neighborhoods in which it is located. It’s time for that to stop, and this bill would accomplish that,” Gianaris said.
Gianaris said that so far, the bill has been met with a good amount of support in the state legislature, and he hopes it will be passed before the Assembly’s session ends in June.
If passed, utility companies would be forced to submit any plan to buy or sell property to both the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the local community board, which would have 30 days to submit an opinion to the state agency. The PSC would then have to address specific points made by the community board during the explanation of their decision.
Gianaris said that he believes that Con Ed has not yet submitted a proposal to the PSC, so if the bill was passed, it would apply to the plan for the Astoria property, which has also been met with opposition by State Senator George Onorato and Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr.
“Clearly this deal was in the works before anyone who represents this community was notified,” Gianaris said. “This is exactly why we need this legislation to pass.”
At a meeting of the Astoria-based United Community Civic Association (UCCA) earlier this year, several attendees blasted the plan, which they feared would exacerbate traffic, pollution and noise in an already over-burdened area.
“We here in Queens are facing a huge facility that will be developed and FedEx will lease for 20 years,” said UCCA President Rosemarie Poveromo, who also serves as a member of Community Board 1.
However, officials from FedEx and Steel Equities, the company that would purchase and develop the site, told local residents that the company would only occupy about 25 percent of the lot, confine their trucks to certain streets and have on-site parking In addition, officials estimated that the facility would create 150 FedEx jobs and 500 jobs for union construction workers.
Still, Poveromo pointed to power plants, a prison, sewage treatment facilities and an airport, all of which are located in western Queens.
“We have deep concerns that adding to this would be a huge, huge mistake by the city administration,” Poveromo said.
In response to the bill, Con Ed called the proposed legislation “unnecessary.”
“Assemblyman Gianaris’ legislation is unnecessary. The PSC already encourages us to interface with community boards, which we do as a matter of course. Any proceeds from the sale of properties will go to ratepayers, not shareholders,” a statement from the utility giant read.
And Poveromo wasn’t entirely optimistic that the community’s wishes would be honored even if the bill is passed.
“The PSC is a misnomer because it does not serve the public. It serves commerce and industry,” Poveromo said, later adding, “I have seen it in the past where the PSC has allowed the siting of all of these power plants in western Queens.”