The Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group’s Outreach Committee met on Thursday, October 17, at 8:30 a.m., in the offices of the Fifth Avenue Committee, at 621 Degraw Street.
CAG Attendees: Sabine Aronowsky, Christine Petro, Eric McClure, Jessica Roff
Review of last month’s meeting notes and action items, and of the September general meeting.
Christine has requested a fact sheet from EPA for RTA 1. No update yet. She’ll follow up with Natalie.
North Canal Visioning Group does not appear to have met recently. We need to remind Council Member Levin of the necessity to engage the community around the north end of the canal, especially with the 90% design due at the end of last month.
Sidebar conversations are happening about the order to provide a temporary swimming pool while the park remediation is progressing. Christine or Sabine will invite Benjamin Solotaire from Council Member Levin’s office to update us on the North Canal Visioning Group. Christine will double check with Andrea about whether there have been any recent NCVG meetings.
We will move the November Outreach meeting to November 14 (Sabine will confirm a meeting room and will move her standing appointment so we can go longer than an hour). Invite EPA and Levin’s office for a discussion of design processes for Fulton cut-off wall and tank projects, as well as park remediation and temporary pool.
We also need to get an update from National Grid regarding the remediation of Thomas Greene Park. We’ll invite Terri Thompson to the December Outreach Committee meeting to provide an update.
What will the impacts be of the two projects (CSO tank and park remediation) possibly going on at the same time? Will parts of the park remain open, and what kind of safety provisions will be in place to protect park users?
With 90% design of the RTA-1 clean up , will there be an opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the plan?
CAG could issue a press release after Thanksgiving with an update on the project, perhaps in conjunction with Council Member Levin’s office.
Much of these potential actions hinge on an update on the RTA-1 work. Opportunity to comment on plan, etc. Head house open space design, incorporation of Gowanus Station building façade, etc.