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
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.