Minutes of the September 1, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Land Use Committee

Attendees: Steve Marcus – Moderator, Margaret Maugenest, Erica Eliason, Emily Mitchell, Peter Reich, Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Lisa Bowstead, Joseph Alexiou & Susan Yung

Guests: Claire Graves (PS 372 parent), Michelle Tsai (PS 372 parent), Irene Baker, Aaron Kaufman & Oscar Fock

The Land Use Committee discussed the following:

Gowanus Protection Framework letter
– Any responses from EPA, DEC & DEP on Gowanus Protection Framework letter? No response last updated. Andrea following up. Unsure if any response yet. Sent to Michael Sivak (EPA), Patrick Foster (DEC), and Lisa Garcia (DEP).

PS 372 Annex
– CAG’s letter sent to Aaron Fisher (DEC) and Daniel Tucholski (NYS DOH). DEC and DOH acknowledged
receipt of the letter that was emailed back on July 31st, no response. Follow up and ask when we can expect a response and say disappointed that no response yet.
– At PS 372 Town Hall, said no idea when problem started. No answers to questions that were put in the chat from the Town Hall. Could ask Principal for copy of the chat so know what the questions were and if there have been answers provided (Claire and Michelle can connect with the principal). Michelle suggests more than written response, in-person Town Hall. CAG is working on scheduling that, but more focused on soil vapor intrusion. Could ask DEC to come to one of our meetings but may be considered outside of the purview of the EPA. Joan thinks it should be okay. Evaded all questions at the Town Hall that was held, said will have fans and doors open, which they say should be fine for when school is in session. Toxins are still in the building and under the building. There is flooding in the basement when it rains. Current solutions are not long-term or permanent fixes. We will ask the Facilitation Committee to have DEC discuss this at the next General CAG meeting scheduled for September 22nd. Lisa wants written response before the meeting so we can come to the meeting with our questions. Lisa has kindly offered to draft something to write to DEC, Steve will circulate and send to the PS 372 parents.
– There are 6 classes at basement level (3 pre-K, 3 kindergarten classes) + gym and after school classes held there. No discussion that parents have been involved in about moving all classes from the basement. One ask that parents have is firm date for new temporary system installation and backup plan to move children from these classes. Also asking for filtration systems and why this is not being considered, and for a permanent solution to clean under and around the school. Does not seem like church has been involved. Need to push to identify the source so hard to address it without knowing the source of the buildings contamination. Michelle says there’s a paper trail for a case that was closed without being addressed. The link is in the petition. Is ISS under the school an option?
– Joan says there’s a union office in the basement. Connect with them? Union representative is for the teachers. New York Post article about recent meeting.

Read more »

Minutes of the August 4, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Land Use Committee

Attendees: Steve Marcus – Moderator, Erica Eliason, Joe Ann Brown, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Yarish, Lisa Bowstead, Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Peter Reich, Katia Kelly, Emily Mitchell, Joseph Alexiou

Guests: Tiffany Brown, Irene Baker & Aaron Kaufman

The Land Use Committee discussed the following:

1) Gowanus Protection Framework
– Follow up: Andrea kindly offered to reach out directly to the individuals that the CAG’s Framework letter was addressed to at EPA, NYSDEC & NYCDEP.

2) Update regarding the CAG’s PS 372 Annex building letter to Aaron Fischer (NYSDEC) and Dan Tucholski (NYSDOH).
– Follow up: As of August 24th, both acknowledged receiving the CAG’s letter but have not responded.

3) EPA’s Matrix for Remediation Requirements of Gowanus Canal’s Upland Sites
– Follow Up: It was suggested that at our next General CAG meeting that we ask who specifically within EPA and DEC is directly responsible for overseeing that developers are adhering to EPA’s Matrix’s requirements of the Canal’s adjoining sites.

4) NYSDEC’s TCE Plume Trackdown Study for the Luquer & Court Street area.
– Follow Up: It was suggested that the Land Use Committee follow up with NYSDEC & NYSDOH to ask for targeted indoor VOC testing for the nearby properties.

5) Jason’s presentation of EPA’s TAB program
– Follow up: We want to thank Jason for his presentation. The committee agreed to have Jason proceed and it was also suggested that he give the same presentation to the rest of the CAG.

6) Lead & Heavy Metal testing in the Gowanus neighborhood.
– Follow up: Based on a community members testing of their backyard’s soil (attached), it was suggested to ask DEC & DOH: 1) Is there a program available for homeowners to get their soil tested, 2) Would DEC & DOH help advertise that testing is available and 3) Request that the soil in our neighborhood’s parks and public spaces be tested as well.

Please Note: The next Land Use Committee meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 1st at 6:30pm.

Minutes of the August 3, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Water Quality & Technical Committee

Attendees, CAG Members: Joan Salome-Rodriguez (Moderator), Erica Eliason, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Yarish, Susan Yung

Guests: Irene Baker, National Grid; Aaron Kaufman, Gowanus Remediation Trust.

You can view a video recording of the meeting here. Please enter code NTkd4^^x when prompted for access.

1) Survey – checked to see if all had done survey – yes.

2) Reviewed emails and responses so far and decided to send follow up questions on some:

a. Basement flood water testing. DEC & DEP, DOH – the agencies all pretty much punted but DOH (Scarlett) sent this: the pages below should direct people affected by floods on some steps they may take following a flood and who to contact.

Weather Emergencies
Flooding Quick Reference Guide

Closed out this issue.
* Note: Eymund said at a prior meeting that if you have repeated flooding, take samples to him and he can have testing done down at the Navy Yard.

b. Real-time canal monitoring/public reporting DEP – Alicia West this may deserve a resolution and a presentation – We will have a presentation from Riverkeeper at the General CAG meeting in September when they have more info from DEP as to what they are planning to do. Joan followed up with Alicia 7/29. The City has asked for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals so the standard response was received that the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

c. Bond-Lorraine Sewer – DEP Alicia West – See the relevant section of her July 31 in the addendum. Basically – The DEP’s plan is to re-sewer all of Carroll Gardens/Gowanus, from Court Street to the Canal, and from Douglass Street to 4th Street at Public Place. It will eliminate the old brick Bond-Lorraine sewer, including the section under Public Place, and that work will be DEP work, not developer work. Appears DEP will run the sewage from Smith to the canal northwards to the Pumping Station, while they run the storm water from that area south where it will be dumped into the canal at Public Place. Design planned to go to DDC by year’s end.

d. CSOs – DEP Alicia West, EPA Victoria Sacks – We got an answer from DEP regarding its Long-Term Control Plan. See the addendum for full answer but importantly there is no LTCP for the CSO tank results and re-dredging would only happen if EPA orders it. At that point, DEP and other PRPs would be required to dredge. Unsure what other PRP’s we are talking about. No answer from EPA yet – Tom Mongelli to respond. Joan followed up 8/10/2026. The attendees decided this response deserved follow up beyond Joan just asking for Tom’s response. Mark Yarish prepared some questions that Joan sent to Tom Mongelli on 8/9/2026.

e. NAPL leaks and remediation at the head of the Canal – Joan followed up to obtain Victoria’s answers to our questions (see addendum) that Tom Mongelli read out at the CAG meeting 7/27 (see addendum). It seems a lot of what is going on is based on suspicion of what is going on but is also exploratory if EPA has it wrong. Work is in progress. Victoria’s full response is included in the addendum. A series of follow-up questions was sent to Victoria on 8/9/2026. See addendum for details.

Read more »

Minutes of the August 3, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Archaeology & Historic Preservation Committee

Attendees, CAG Members: Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Moderator. Margaret Maugenest, Jason Schwartzman.

Guests: Irene Baker, National Grid; Aaron Kaufman, Gowanus Remediation Trust.

You can watch a video recording of the meeting here. Please enter passcode ^NZVd%1s for access.

Discussion of the CAG membership survey.

1. Discussed ways to get the StoryMap and other materials out to the community. Outreach help? Put on the website? Aaron says, yes, we can do that. Jason to follow up with Celeste.

2. Joan reported that Clinton and Union Street library scheduled to open in the fall. What would an email to the library say? Library should be very interested in the StoryMap. Aaron will follow up to see if the StoryMap can be shared with BPL. We need to draft an email. Can it also be in book form?

3. Asked Aaron if we still have the original draft StoryMap that was much more geared to kids. It would be nice to have both.

4. Joan shared her PowerPoint of the graffiti materials. Eventually we want a show at Dredgers with real items dredged and the graffiti materials but would be great if we could show the StoryMap, too. Aaron will follow up. If we cannot move all of John Quadrozzi’s items to the location we could use the photos we have of them already. Just need frames.

5. Michael Kilian was unable to attend but did say he would reach out to John Quadrozzi and I gave him the email.

6. Jason suggested posters with QR codes and flyers – can the Trust help? Aaron to check. If we get the flyers it would be nice to frame and have hung in new spaces.

Minuted of the July 31, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Administration Committee

Attendees: Jerry Armer and Katia Kelly via Zoom.

Katia informed Jerry that at the July 2026 full CAG meeting, the Facilitation Committee presented its work on identifying opportunities to increase representation through additional outreach and new member recruiting.

During the discussion, the entire CAG voted to temporarily remove the CAG’s current membership application form from the website, so that we may work on a replacement application that would better align with our recruitment goals.

The hope is to have the new one by mid September.

There is currently an application in front of the Administration Committee. At the general meeting, our committee asked that this application still be reviewed under current membership criteria.

Jerry and Katia reviewed the membership application from Kayla Moriarty.

It was decided to move the application forward because Kayla is a resident of Gowanus and lives very near the Superfund remediation area.

Jerry and Katia felt that she will contribute new thoughts and fresh eyes to our CAG discussions.

Katia will contact Kayla to let her know that the CAG will not be meeting in August, but that she will be invited to the September or October meeting for an interview.

Gowanus CAG Land Use Committee Letter to NYSDEC and NYSDOH re: PS 372 Vapor Intrusion

The Gowanus CAG Land Use Committee has prepared a letter, following a technical review of agency records and vapor-intrusion research, seeking answers about continued volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detections in the P.S. 372 Annex cellar. The letter asks the responsible agencies to explain the remaining source, complete and verify additional mitigation, clarify whether affected spaces are safe for young children to use, and provide ongoing monitoring and public updates before normal school operations resume in September.

You can find the letter here.

Missed our July 2026 General Meeting? You can find a recording here.

If you were unable to join us via Zoom for our July 28th general meeting, you can view a complete video recording of the meeting below, or open it in a new window here.

Please click on any of the following dates for recordings of our June 23rd, April 28th, March 24th, February 24th, January 27th, December 2nd, and October 28th general meetings.

For recordings of our June, July and September 2025 meetings, please click here.

And for video of most of our meetings from April 2020 to April 2025, please visit our Vimeo page. Click on any of the videos to view the recording of the desired meeting.

Minutes of the July 7, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Land Use Committee

Attendees: Steve Marcus – Moderator, Andrea Parker, Erica Eliason, Joe Ann Brown, Hildegaard Link, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Yarish, Lisa Bowstead, Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Linda LaViolette, Peter Reich

Guests: Irene Baker & Aaron Kaufman

The Land Use Committee discussed the following:

1) Gowanus Protection Framework
We thanked Jason and Andrea for all their work on drafting and editing the Gowanus Protection Framework that the entire CAG reviewed and voted on to be sent to EPA, NYSDEC & NYCDEP.

2) Environmental Remediation Dashboard
Jason demonstrated his amazing creation of an interactive Environmental Remediation Dashboard as a tool for the entire Gowanus community to use. You can find a link to Jason’s dashboard here.

3) EPA’s Matrix for Remediation Requirements of Gowanus Canal’s Upland Sites
We discussed who is responsible for the enforcement of EPA’s Matrix. It was determined that it is the responsibility of NYSDEC and individual developers of adjoining sites to adhere to EPA’s Matrix requirements.

4) NYSDEC’s TCE Plume Trackdown Study for the Luquer & Court Street area.
The Committee will be working with the Outreach Committee to determine how best to proceed.

5) NYSDEC’s letters regarding PS 372’s vapor intrusion issues & follow up.
The Land Use Committee discussed copies of letters it recently received about the status of the soil vapor intrusion investigation at PS 372’s Annex on 1st Street, between 3rd & 4th Avenues. The letters are from NYSDEC to the school’s principal, detailing the steps that have been taken to investigate soil vapor intrusion, and then to address it once exceedances were found. The letters indicate that there is evidence that the soil vapor intrusion persists despite remediation solutions, and so the investigation is continuing.

The Committee decided to take the following actions:
– Hildegaard and Mark kindly volunteered to draft a letter to DEC requesting further information on its past and current actions to ensure the health and safety of students and staff.
– To reach out to school personnel for further information on its concerns about the overall situation and actions being taken by NYSDEC and any other groups (DOE, teacher’s union, the PTA).
– In its separate discussions with NYSDEC about soil vapor intrusion across Gowanus, the CAG will engage NYSDEC about special efforts to reach out to property owners in the immediate vicinity of the school so they are aware of their potential heightened risk of soil vapor intrusion. Please see the map that Jason kindly created for more information of neighboring properties here.

6) Former Citizens MGP Works site Fall 2025 Groundwater Monitoring report.
It was brought to the Committee’s attention that the Fall 2025 report had not been posted on the National Grid’s Citizens website. Irene Baker who represents National Grid at our CAG meeting was present at our meeting and we would like to thank her for following up and alerting us that the report dated April 16th, 2026 has just been posted on their website. Here’s a link to the Citizen’s website: https://www.citizensmgpsite.com/index.html.

And you can find the Fall 2025 Groundwater Monitoring report here.

7) NYCDEP’s Waterbody Advisory Dashboard & Riverkeeper v. NYCDEP
Mark shared with the Committee NYCDEP’s website that shows accumulated rainfall and CSO activity in and around NYC and specifically the Gowanus Canal as a useful tool especially after wet weather events.

Here’s a link to the website: https://nycwaterbodyadvisory.azurewebsites.net/

In addition, Joan briefly discussed Riverkeeper’s Appellate Division 2nd Department’s decision (see a copy here), which will be discussed further at the September General CAG meeting.

The next Land Use Committee meeting will take place on Tuesday, August 4th at 6:30 p.m.

Minutes of the Gowanus Canal CAG Outreach Committee’s Meeting of July 13, 2026

Attendees: Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Katie Bishop, Lisa Bowstead, George Fiala, Andrea Parker, Joan Salome-Rodriguez

Overview and Timeline for Town Hall on Soil Vapor Intrusion
• Target Date: September, aligned with the timing of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) annual soil vapor investigation reports.
• Primary Goals: 1) To raise awareness of Soil Vapor Intrusion and the health impacts among Gowanus property owners and renters; 2) To encourage property owners to opt into DEC’s free testing and mitigation; 3) To provide practical information on the nuts and bolts of what’s involved in the testing and mitigation of a property.
• Target Audience: Property owners, renters, businesses and schools within the specific Gowanus soil vapor investigation area.

Immediate Action Items & Strategy
• The committee will first approach local elected officials—Council Member Shahana Hanif, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, and State Senator Andrew Gounardes—to ask them to co-host the event and officially invite the DEC.
• Andrea volunteered to email the officials and their top staff.
• The committee will meet in August to finalize the specifics of the outreach campaign, hopefully with feedback from the elected officials.

Community Outreach & Spreading the Word
The committee emphasized that previous DEC meetings failed to draw a crowd because they were poorly publicized, and brainstormed outreach strategies, including the following ideas:
• George Fiala offered printing services and space in The Red Hook Star-Revue.
• Handing out flyers block-by-block and door-to-door.
• Partnering with neighborhood groups to get the event publicized through their networks.
• Reaching out directly to local PTAs to engage parents whose children attend schools in the area.
• Leveraging the email lists and newsletters of local electeds and Community Board 6.

Read more »

Minutes of the July 6, 2026 Meeting of the Gowanus Canal CAG’s Archaeology & Historic Preservation Committee

Attendees, CAG Members: Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Moderator. Jason Schwartzman; Joseph Alexiou arrived late but meeting had ended; Michael Kilian was out of town but emailed.  

Guests: Irene Baker, National Grid; Aaron Kaufman, Gowanus Remediation Trust, stuck in transit and could not attend.

You can watch a video recording of the meeting here. Please enter passcode yRz%As.0 for access.

1. Discussed ways to get the Storyboard and other materials out to the community. Outreach help? Yes. Jason will discuss with Aaron Kaufman and Celeste via email to figure out if the Storyboard can go up on the Website and Instagram. The question is technical. Can the programs we have actually accommodate it?

2. Joan reported that Clinton and Union St library scheduled to open in the fall. What would an email to the library say? Library should be very interested in the Storyboard. Joan will visit once its open.

3. Agreed to work with Outreach and reach out to Celeste at Gowanus Dredgers for an event including a projection of the Gowanus Graffiti materials and various dredged objects. Celeste is interested – slideshow of graffiti, objects displayed? Awaiting slideshow from Joseph.

4. Joan emailed John Quadrozzi (see email correspondence here) to set up a visit with Peter to the site and get photos and a sense of what could potentially be moved for display. See below – does anyone have a relationship with him? Maybe Michael could follow up and introduce himself? Michael Kilian was out of town but e-mailed that he and his wife will reach out to John Quadrozzi. Will follow up in August.

5. Eymund not present but had agreed to share a bunch of Gowanus Graffiti subway art from 2011. Joan will do another paddle to capture some of the stuff along the Canal.

6. At the last meeting Peter suggested that a few of the images in our collection of graffiti be printed and framed and ask the nearby buildings where the artwork was to display in their space. See notes in the Gowanus Graffiti collection. How to raise $ for framing? Donations? Joan will search online for cheap frames to see if it can just be done out of pocket.

STILL TO DO
7. New semester so outreach to Brooklyn College Museum Studies Program and to Pratt’s archaeology team is timely now to see if there are any opportunities there. https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/curating-excellence/. If we are going to set up exhibits they may be able to help. bbingham@pratt.edu – What should an email to these programs say? Draft at this meeting.

Jason suggests to pitch with the storyboard to the colleges and the provenance we have for the items as well as the slide show of Gowanus Graffiti and, hopefully, of Gowanus wildlife.