Current DSNY at 34-28 21st St. (Google)
Feb. 17, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
A public hearing is scheduled take place tomorrow to discuss the relocation of the DSNY garage and salt shed on 21st Street to an industrial area in Astoria.
The city plans to move the current facility located at 34-28 21st St. to 30-11 20th Ave., by Luyster Creek, which requires site selection and acquisition approval as part of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP).
Residents from the nearby Ravenswood Houses have complained for years about pollution from the current 21st Street facility as well as the smelly garbage trucks that idle outside that leave oil spills and garbage debris on the street.
Long lines of garbage trucks can be seen double parked along the intersection of 35th Av. and 21st St. from Mondays to Saturdays, residents say, making the area dangerous for pedestrians and vehicles. Some trucks also park along 24th Street.
DSNY has been using the facility since the 1930s but, according to the ULURP application, has outgrown its capacity. The current location is structurally deficient, according to DSNY, and does not conform to the residential zoning.
The proposed 9.8-acre 20th Avenue site would facilitate the development of a new $142.6 million DSNY vehicle garage and salt shed, if approved.
The site is privately owned by Luyster Creek LLC, a company that entered into a contract to buy the property from Consolidated Edison Company of New York for $15 million in December 2001. The transaction closed in July 2014.
The application involves the construction of a 93,775 square foot garage at 31-11 20th Ave, which would be used to house vehicles and equipment for refuse and recycling collection, street cleaning, and winter emergency operations.
A 20,000 square foot salt shed is also proposed on the 20th Avenue site to replace the unenclosed Queens District 1 Salt Facility (10,000 ton capacity) on the waterfront at 43rd Avenue and Vernon Boulevard.
The proposed garage and salt shed relocations will enable DSNY to continue serving Queens Community District 1.
Community Board 1 will hear the application request from DSNY and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services at Astoria World Manor, 25-22 Astoria Blvd., on Tuesday, Feb. 18 from 6:30 p.m.
The public is invited to participate and can register to speak by calling CB1 at 718-626-1021 or emailing qn01@cb.nyc.gov.
Proposed Site at 31-11 20th Ave. (City Planning)
