A former 47th Street Photo warehouse has been a hot topic in Carroll Gardens over the past few weeks. The property at 455-459 Smith Street is known as the Vichar/Abadi warehouse. It is privately owned and situated on four acres at the northeast corner of Huntington and Smith. It is contiguous with the city-owned property called Public Place, once used by Brooklyn Union Gas as a manufactured gas plant. (After becoming Keyspan, Brooklyn Union Gas is now National Grid.) Residential towers and parkland are planned for this site, which is a brownfield, after environmental remediation funded by National Grid is completed.

That remediation process, overseen by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), is ongoing, but area residents say they were not advised about the plans for the demolition of the privately owned Vichar/Abadi building. When white dust resulting from the work blanketed the neighborhood, much concern arose.

After neighbors contacted elected officials, a complete Stop Work Order was issued by the city to the property owner and the demolition contractor. Then, at City Councilmember Bill de Blasio’s urging, the contractor, Perry Ferrara; Edward Sawchuk, an environmental lawyer retained by the property owner; and Michael Zukauskas, a project manager for GEI Consultants, an environmental and ecological science and engineering firm hired by National Grid, agreed to meet with CB 6’s Public Safety and Environmental Protection Committees.

This meeting took place on February 23. The lawyer spoke first, offering background on the demolition project. A demolition permit was submitted in the summer of 2008, he said. Asbestos was detected in the roof and abated in July. The superstructure has been removed and now just the four walls and the slab remain. As part of what is mandated by the Stop Work Order, Sawchuk said, his client is coordinating further work with the Department of Transportation to assure safety.

“We can remove the concrete, but we cannot touch the soil,� Sawchuk advised. “After the concrete work is complete, the project will be turned over to Key Span/National Grid.�

The demolition contractor was up next. He revealed that the Stop Work Order contained five citations that must be addressed before work can resume. These included the posting of permits already granted and obtaining a permit from the Fire Department. Ferrara assured the group that the white dust that people were brushing off their cars was the result of the crushing of a gypsum-like material and was not, as some feared, asbestos. Asked if that dust could be tested at this point, he indicated it was too late.

When committee members complained about poor communication regarding the building demolition, Ferrara agreed that much improvement was needed in that area. “Even I was out of the loop,� he admitted. “I didn’t even know that we will need air monitoring when we take up the slab, but I think we have all the bases covered now.�

One committee member after another pointed out that if a project has the look of impropriety, wary neighbors will assume, as Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association President Maria Pagano told this reporter before the meeting, that there are “backstage machinations� going on.

Michael Zukauskas, the GEI engineer, addressed the next stage of the project which will involve soil testing and removal. He explained that the “initial fix� if toxic vapor is detected is to cover the area with foam. To contain hazardous dust, he continued, the dust is wetted down.

A resolution was passed unanimously by the Public Safety and Environmental Protection Committees stipulating that the companies involved in the demolition and monitoring of the site will provide a list of contact numbers to the community board, so that residents may stay abreast of the project and report problems when they notice them.

The companies also agreed to submit work plans to the community board on a weekly basis.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net