For more than eight decades, generations of residents at the Ravenswood Houses have complained about the presence of the city’s Department of Sanitation depot next door.
Now a plan to move the facility, known as Queens West One or the Frank Justich Garage, to the Astoria waterfront has cleared the city’s public review process and will be moved to a new location.
The building, located at 34-28 21st St., will be demolished to make way for affordable housing after the new DSNY depot becomes operational at 31-11 20th Ave.
“The agreement we’ve made on the DSNY garage delivers major wins for the western Queens community,” Councilman Costa Constantinides said. “This will improve traffic safety along 21st Street, clean the air for Queensbridge and Ravenswood Houses, and create truly affordable housing. I’d like to thank our partners, especially the community leaders, who made this agreement possible.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to approve the plan after promising a Long Island City town hall meeting in May 2017 that he would expedite the move. He allocated $130 million in his executive budget to finance the depot’s relocation.
