Avella Opposes City Plan That Would Undo Years of Restoration in College Point

Queens, NY - On Friday, Senator Tony Avella sent a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to express his outrage at a plan proposed by the City’s DEP to install a new storm water outfall at a State Protected Wetlands Research & Restoration project.

The plan proposed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection would install a new 4-foot, 6-inch by 3-foot, 6-inch storm water outfall to the East River at College Point’s MacNeil Park. This outfall would be spilling directly onto a salt marsh oyster reef that has shown successful oyster and ribbed mussel growth over recent years.

In the letter to DEC Commissioner Seggos, Senator Avella said, “although you stated that the Department of Environmental Conservation has not signed off on any final plans, I wanted to remind you of my primary concerns about this project. There is considerable concern amongst local environmental groups that this storm water outfall is going to be placed right in the exact location of an oyster and sea grass restoration project.”

City DEP claims that this project would not result in contaminated water of any kind entering into New York waters. However, Senator Avella pointed out that this is simply untrue, “College Point does not have ‘alternate side of the street’ parking which is necessary for a regular street cleaning program to exist. As a result, the storm water runoff is very likely to contain higher than normal concentrations of contaminants and should not go directly into the state’s waterways. More importantly, College Point has a high concentration of ‘mixed use’ properties including heavy industrial uses that will surely add to the contamination in storm water runoff.”

“I would like to thank the DEC for agreeing to do an on-site review of the review of DEP’s plans at this location. This proposal further highlights the need for State DEC to have more rigorous oversight of City DEP” commented Senator Avella.