CROWN HEIGHTS — ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP WILL SOON BEGIN AT A BROWNFIELD SITE which once housed a major brewery in Crown Heights and is now embroiled in a real estate controversy. The NY State Department of Environmental Conservation has approved and will oversee cleanup action that a developer, 960 Franklin LLC and Franklin Plaza II LLC, will perform, starting in November and lasting about six months. The key components of the Conditional Track 1 Unrestricted Use remedy, with the purpose of protecting public health and the environment, are: removal of any underground storage tanks and existing pavement and debris; excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 33,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil; importing clean fill that meets established soil cleanup objectives for use as backfill; remediation of groundwater; installation of a soil vapor extraction system to remove volatile organic compounds; and installation and operation of a sub-slab depressurization system to prevent the potential for soil vapor intrusion into the planned building.
Procedures will be in place to protect workers and residents from particulate dust. After the developer completes final engineering reports and the DEC approves these, they can re-develop the site for a proposed seven-story residential building.
Residents, Community Board 9 and City Councilmember Crystal Hudson have been fighting the development. They contend that the height of the building would block sunlight at the neighboring Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a world-renowned cultural and educational institution.
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