Gowanus Superfund Coming to a Head
UPDATE 9:46 am: Pardon Me For Asking is reporting that the EPA has just announced that is has put the Gowanus Canal on the Superfund list. We can’t find a press release or mention on the EPA site though. UPDATE 10:41 a.m.: The Times has an article up now, complete with this statement: After conducting…
UPDATE 9:46 am: Pardon Me For Asking is reporting that the EPA has just announced that is has put the Gowanus Canal on the Superfund list. We can’t find a press release or mention on the EPA site though.
UPDATE 10:41 a.m.: The Times has an article up now, complete with this statement: After conducting our own evaluations and consulting extensively with the many people who have expressed interest in the future of the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding area, we have determined that a Superfund designation is the best path to a cleanup of this heavily contaminated and long neglected urban waterway, Judith Enck, the E.P.A. regional administrator, said in a statement.”
With a community meeting scheduled for Thursday (P.S. 58 at 7 p.m.), Crain’s takes a close look at the “To Superfund or Not to Superfund” question that is currently dividing various constituencies along and around the Gowanus Canal. If the site is placed on the Superfund list, it almost certainly will be the death knell of the mega real estate projects slated for the area. Given the way Superfund sites work, it could be a decade or more from now before clean up starts, said David Von Spreckelsen, vice president at Toll Brothers, told Crain’s. We just don’t have that time horizon. We will most likely walk away from the properties. Not only that, it could affect the ability of homeowners within a half-mile of the site to get a mortgage. The developers and other stakeholders in the area favor a plan put forth by the city for a faster clean-up to the tune of $165 million. One such position is taken by Buddy Scotto, longtime neighborhood resident and activist. Here’s what he wrote to the pro-Superfunders in a letter we got our hands on:
I take a back seat to no one with regard to my commitment to our environment and if I believed that you had a better way, I would willingly accept the fact that I might never see the affordable housing and other economic development initiatives along the canal that I long ago envisioned. You, however, come to us not with an open hand bearing gifts but with a hammer growling threats. I willingly reach out my hand to receive the $175 million dollars offered by our City, and I would be more than pleased to accept federal funds to move the remediation of the canal forward, but instead you only offer us the prospect of years of delay through litigation.
Where do you stand on the issue now?
Gowanus Canal Faces Crucial Cleanup Decision [Crain’s]
The Other Dead Zone Around the Gowanus [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by sahocevar
@Pigeon
“gkw,
The superfund designation should not affect mortgages, as the designation does not reveal any more toxidity than is already known by the banks.
That’s what I gather, at least.
I’m no expert, but it seems pretty clear that the mortgage angle was a ploy by the anti-designation people.”
It was already known by the banks, but now it’s “official”. If that makes a difference, we’ll find out. That red zone looks scary for homeowners, basically you need to live in Brooklyn Heights, north of Atlantic Ave. or close to Prospect Park to be “safe”.
I implore everybody on this forum to notice that most of the above commenters that claim the Superfund designation will not negatively effect mortgage lending are actually unsure of their positions and are truly saying that the designation may have such an effect. Comments such as “it’s only POTENTIALLY related to FHA loans”, “(it) SHOULD not affect mortgages”, and “this will only affect FHA loans, which make up about 20% of all loans.” are a clear recognition by those in favor of the Superfund designation that it could actually impact mortgage lending in the area.
I’m not saying that the designation will definitely have a negative impact on mortgage lending in the area. I’m just saying that the people who are saying that it won’t have a negative impact don’t truly know that to be the fact.
Hi gkw, I’m sure we do know each other! You can email me at olympushigh (at) gmail (dot) com…
And don’t worry about the mortgage thing, it’s only potentially related to FHA-backed condo loans (and will probably be fine in that case as well)!
The EPA has gotten much more efficient with its Superfund cleanups. They don’t take 30 years anymore.
But a 30 year cleanup would be a lot faster than the 150 years it has taken the City to take this issue sersiously.
feral – I must know you since I live right next to Dominic and his wife and thus across the street from you…
Oh, and I challenge you to go to the old folks’ home at Bond and 1st Street and ask them how many people over 50 are living there.
mopar, that’s just not true. My neighbor right across the street (a block and a half from the canal) just died in December at the age of 97; he was literally born on the block.
His wife, the same age, is still alive. She doesn’t shovel snow, but she does rake leaves.
Nothing to vote – the decision is complete – Superfund site it is.
gkw,
The superfund designation should not affect mortgages, as the designation does not reveal any more toxidity than is already known by the banks.
That’s what I gather, at least.
I’m no expert, but it seems pretty clear that the mortgage angle was a ploy by the anti-designation people.