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)
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18 Comments
AKA mob boss
Lol people on here are funny . The guy comes forward to give the community a heads up and someone calls him a mob boss ? Wonder who really made that comment the sanitation department or the union ? Just goes to show do not put yourself out there to help . It is not appreciated .
I am a former Sanitation Worker that was just terminated because I developed health problems due to these sanitation trucks and their faulty exhaust systems. I was also constantly harassed for working safely! The city is short sanitation trucks so they don’t care about safety!!! They pressure Sanitation Workers to NOT check their trucks before using them! Publicly they say they do care about safety! These trucks have faulty exhaust systems on them that spew out diesel exhaust soot and fumes all over the place!!! I hope the feds will investigate Local 831!!!
There’s corruption everywhere!
The industrial section of Astoria needs to start transitioning to a residential area with homes, trees and parks. There is too much wasted land over there filled with trucks, garbage, spare car parts and kids racing motorcycles. The councilman does nothing to clean that are up.
I have to disagree only because the traffic and congestion between Astoria and LIC have been so crazy. I’ve been living in Astoria for 24 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen.
What congestion between Astoria and LIC!?! 21st Street: traffic moves. Vernon Blvd: barely any cars.
Stay off Crescent and 33rd, and virtually every side street is empty!
Great , move it from public housing projects to up and coming Astoria. Makes a lot of sense. (Not)
This is going to be a disaster. These trucks are going to go down side blocks and cause hardships for seniors and others. If the board approves it; they are in somebody’s pocket. The members of CB1 are on the take. They are all corrupt. If they do the right thing and veto this move, I would change my opinion.
Why would they go down side streets!? Garbage trucks could literally keep their current route but keep driving up 21st Street and then hang a right on 20th Ave!
We’re all in favor of moving the garbage thing over to the middle of no-wheres-ville.
What could go in its place? Literally anything would suck.
First we deal with Con Ed and now let’s put in a sanatation garage???
Why not Rikers???
It’d be a good idea to move that garage down to 20th Avenue
And what would the old 21st Street site be used for? We don’t want tall condos for rich folks in our neighborhood. Keep them in LIC which basically is NOT a neighborhood.
Mixed income housing pleaseee!
it’s public land: we can create a community land trust and keep it available to the public for public use, like a business incubator, a learning center, rooftop garden, art space, commercial space, etc
Move now.
I agree with the move to 20th AVE.