By Tom Momberg
The vacant lot on Northern Boulevard and 211th Street, once home to former car dealerships and more recently construction vehicle storage, finally has a plan to be redeveloped.
Property owners Seungho and Jeewha Kim, of Little Neck, have proposed a three-story commercial building for the vacant lot at 211-02 and the adjacent lot at 211-04 Northern Blvd. But the site developer, TL Engineering, was denied its application to the city Department of Buildings, because the site was never properly decommissioned since being occupied as an automotive service.
The first floor would be just over 7,300 square feet for four Northern Boulevard retail units. The second floor would be 7,500 square feet to house eight offices with a communal bathroom. The third floor would be 5,075 square feet, planned for four medical offices.
There is currently an open complaint and one open violation filed with the city Department of Buildings for the storage of mechanical cranes in a residential area. The owners paid a $300 fine, but have not removed the construction vehicles from the site.
Seungho and Jeewha Kim could not be reached for comment.
The owners have been in limbo since they bought the property from Christina Anthony Realty Associates in 2006, after which a large gasoline container was spilled. The city Department of Environmental Conservation conducted a Phase II environmental assessment of the site, which mandated cleanup and did not close the spill file until 2011. The owners razed the site shortly afterward, leaving it vacant.
As a result of the initial remediation, nearly 197 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil was removed from the site, along with an abandoned waste oil tank that was disposed of properly before the building was taken down.
In its current investigation, the city Office of Environmental Remediation drilled, probed and collected 26 soil samples on the corner vacant lot site, and found additional unexpected subsurface environmental issues, attributed to the oil tank and hydraulic lifts, which were found during excavation. The site requires remediation under city Voluntary Cleanup Program specifications.
The 10,000-square-foot lot was found to have several chlorinated, volatile and semi-volatile organic carbon compounds, metals and pesticides above soil cleanup guideline levels, and above levels set by the state Department of Health, according to a Remediation report. Metals were found to be above groundwater quality standards, too.
The Voluntary Cleanup Program plan calls for additional excavation and remediation, and if cleanup objectives are not fully achieved, then engineering and institutional controls will be introduced into the developing site plan.
The Remedial Investigation Report and the draft Remedial Action Work Plan are currently under a public comment period, until April 17. Those comments will then be considered before the Office of Environmental Remediation approves the final action plan, and will be released before remedial work takes place.
Public comments must be sent to OER Deputy Director Shaminder Chawla via email to schaw
If once the remedial work begins and the site plan is approved by Community Board 11 and the Department of Buildings, the developers plan to construct a three-story commercial building with on-site parking.
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
