WASTE STATION PERMITS OK’D

Community opposition to the East 91st Street waste transfer station hit a setback on July 27 when the state approved the city’s permits for construction.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation upheld an April 2008 decision by an administrative law judge that rejected concerns of the Gracie Point Community Council. The group has been leading opposition to the East 91st Street facility, an integral part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s citywide waste management system.
Bloomberg’s plan will demolish a dormant waste transfer station on East 91st Street and the FDR Drive to construct a new facility.
The Gracie Point group appealed the ruling, but the department’s assistant commissioner, Louis Alexander upheld the decision. The department’s commissioner, Alexander “Pete” Grannis, is a former East Side Assembly member who was a vocal critic of the plan. He recused himself from the application hearing and tapped his assistant to act in his place.
Tony Ard, president of the Gracie Point Community Council, called the decision disappointing and said the group is likely to challenge the department’s permit approval in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The group has 30 days after the decision to file the suit.
“We think they’re wrong in their assessment of the effect of public health, safety and welfare,” Ard said. “This is a residential neighborhood. It’s beside a recreational facility, and the garbage transfer station doesn’t belong in dense neighborhoods.”
East Side elected officials who oppose the waste transfer station were similarly angered by the decision.
Assembly Member Micah Kellner used the opportunity to plug his bill that would ban such facilities within 800 feet of public housing. The bill was designed to kill the East 91st Street transfer station, which is near the Stanley Isaacs Houses and John Holmes Towers.

Permits OK’d for Waste Transfer Station

Community opposition to the East 91st Street waste transfer station hit a setback on July 27 when the state approved the city’s permits for construction.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation upheld an April 2008 decision by an administrative law judge that rejected concerns of the Gracie Point Community Council. The group has been leading opposition to the East 91st Street facility, an integral part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s citywide waste management system. Read more

Braced for Garbage

For many New Yorkers, contact with trash ends with the slam of a garbage chute door. But the prospect of garbage trucks lining up near parks, classrooms and residential buildings has some Upper East Siders devoting a lot of attention to waste management these days. Residents have long protested the city’s plan to rebuild and reopen the marine waste transfer station at East 91st Street and the FDR Drive, but the announcement that P.S. 151 will have a new home down the block from the site has added urgency to the debate. Read more