Flushing money down the drain
City could waste millions if it builds tunnel instead of tanks in Gowanus
LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
COURIER L 36 IFE, FEB. 1–7, 2019 M
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
BY JULIANNE CUBA
The city may fl ush millions of taxpayer
dollars down the toilet if it moves
forward with scrapping a long in-theworks
plan to bury two massive sewage
tanks beneath land along the Gowanus
Canal, and instead build a giant underground
tunnel to collect storm-water
runoff in the cisterns’ place.
Offi cials already spent roughly $30
million on design work for the waterstorage
vessels — infrastructure required
as part of the Superfund site’s
federally led cleanup — since announcing
they planned to install them back
in 2013. But a chunk of that change
could go down the drain if the city now
chooses to scrap the tanks for the tunnel
fi rst proposed last November, according
to a municipal engineer, who
couldn’t immediately confi rm how
much would be wasted.
“About $30 million,” Department of
Environmental Protection employee
Kevin Clarke said at a Jan. 22 meeting
of the local Gowanus Community Advisory
Group. “I’d have to go back and get
you a more accurate number, but it’s in
that order.”
Council in April signed off on the
use of eminent domain to seize neighboring
Butler and Nevins street lots
along the canal where the city may still
bury the larger, eight-million-gallon
tank, which would go beneath a new fi ltration
facility called a headhouse and
open-air public space adjacent to it.
But if offi cials decide to nix the cisterns,
they would instead dig some 125–
150 feet below ground and bore a long
tunnel along the path of the canal, with
one end beneath the headhouse and the
other beneath city-owned land at Fifth
Street and Second Avenue, where the
Environmental Protection Department
leaders may still bury the smaller, fourmillion
gallon tank.
The tunnel would operate similarly
to the tanks, by collecting storm-water
and liquid-waste from local pipes — after
that wet stuff is fi ltered through the
headhouse — which would otherwise
fl ood the canal during heavy rains.
But it could hold at least 16-million
gallons — four more than the tanks
would accommodate — and could easily
be extended further to collect even
more of the fi lth, according to Clarke,
who said the city may extend the chute
down Second Avenue or further along
the path of the canal.
“There are several alternatives to
extend the tunnel further south down
Second Avenue, or making a turn continuing
to follow the alignment of the
canal,” he said. “It provides additional
volume, and an additional storm-water
outlet.”
And the late-breaking change in
plans would provide benefi ts to the
community beyond its increased storage
capacity, including less construction,
and creating more room for the
public space planned for next to the
headhouse, Clarke said.
“Benefi ts of the tunnel are it increases
storage capacity, it’s easier to
construct, there’s less destruction impact,”
he said. “We do believe the headhouse
associated with the tunnel would
be about the same size, but there will
no longer be below-ground facilities beneath
the public space, and so we can be
more fl exible with the design.”
Plus, the costs for the two projects
are comparable, according to the city
engineer, who said the total cost for the
tank scheme is just shy of $1.2 billion,
with the tunnel’s price tag coming in at
$1.25 billion.
And some of the prep work already
done on the tanks is applicable should
the city move forward with the tunnel,
construction of which would not wrap
until 2030 — the same year offi cials expected
to fi nish installing the second
tank, according to another Environmental
Protection Department rep.
“DEP continues work on parallel
tracks — already meeting every milestone
towards construction of the tanks
while we have initiated detailed planning
for the tunnel. Much of the work
done to date for the tanks will be directly
transferable,” the rep said.
But some locals wondered if
the job couldn’t be sped up if offi -
cials are going to spend the extra
cash to change course.
“2030 to me is scary,” said Jerry
Armer, who represents civic group the
Cobble Hill Association on the Gowanus
Community Advisory Group.
Other residents, however, applauded
the city’s about-face with the massive
project — which is not dissimilar to
Gov. Cuomo’s decision to call off the
long-promised partial L-train shutdown
that many locals uprooted their
lives to avoid three months before its
planned start date.
Those Gowanusaurs praised the
city for anticipating the need for lasting
storm-resiliency infrastructure
as water levels continue to rise at the
same time that Gowanus is poised for
a residential upzoning, and for looking
at ways to create more open space in the
neighborhood. Still, some questioned
offi cials’ motive for pivoting on the project
so late in the game, especially after
they seized the land for the headhouse
and adjacent public space above where
the larger tank would be buried.
“I appreciate there is more space,”
said Andrea Parker, who leads the
Gowanus Canal Conservancy. “I think
there’s defi nitely some sentiment that
there’s an ulterior motive here in announcing
this right after the eminent
domain. Essentially, the city is trying
to sell off this valuable land.”
But Clarke assured that the land
will only be used to create the muchneeded
open space.
“I would never want to give up that
property,” he said. “Sometime in the
future we’re going have to upgrade the
facility — we need the property to support
that construction.”
The federal Environmental Protection
Agency leaders spearheading the
Gowanus Canal cleanse — who must
sign off on the tunnel plan — did not attend
the meeting, because it occurred
when they were still out of work due
to the government shutdown, which
ended on Jan. 25.
TUNNEL VISION: The city now wants to build a massive tunnel to hold sewage water along
the path of the Gowanus Canal, instead of two previously planned tanks.
Department of Environmental Protection