By Cynthia Koons
No one has laid claim to putting up the sign that reads: “Toxic Fill Beware: PCBs.” It is hanging on the street side of a fenced-in parcel that is supposed to be turned into a 172-home residential development.”I saw it Monday morning, I wake up, I tell my wife,” said Belarmino Rodriguez, whose front door faces the sign. “I was worrying about it.”Other neighbors said they have no idea what the sign means.But for those who have taken a closer look, it is forboding.”I'm scared about that,” said Rosa Rodriguez, Belarmino's wife. She said children often play in the street in front of that property, which abuts MacNeil Park.The director of the Northeast Queens Historic Preservation Commission, Joan Vogt, said the sign was articulating a concern she and an area scientist shared about potential toxins on that piece of land.Dumping on that parcel began in July 1963, according to her recollections. At the time, the 50-year resident of College Point was the president of the College Point Taxpayers Association.”I can remember when it was water and the dumping started,” she said. “Anything and everything went into that waterfront.”The property was owned by a group of men, including a dentist, a lawyer and a judge, who allowed the parcel to be used as a landfill for years.The developer who proposed the 172-home development on the site, College Point Properties, submitted an environmental plan to the state Department of Environmental Conservation that indicated that there were PCBs floating on the site last year.According to the study, the soil was also saturated with petroleum, while “volatile organic compounds are also found at the same hot spot locations as the petroleum contaminated soils.”The environmental study by ETG Inc., an environmental consultant hired by the developer, proposes that a vapor barrier be built below ground to prevent gases, liquids and solids from entering home foundations. On undeveloped land, the study calls for the builder to lay a plastic sheet over the ground and cover it with two feet of fresh topsoil to trap any potentially harmful substances from rising to the surface.The state approved the plan, much to the chagrin of area preservationists, after the public comment period ended in May.”The study that the developer did may not have accurately reflected the level of toxicity on the site,” Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), said. “It certainly raises questions that the remediation process may not be sufficient.”Avella has met with local marine biologist James Cervino, who said the new sign hanging on the property came as surprise to him. He and a Harvard University biologist are currently conducting lab tests of samples collected from the property. Those tests are being funded through Vogt's office, which is backed by state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose). The Northeast Queens Historic Preservation Commission monitors environmental activity on the waterfront from College Point to Udall's Cove.”I think Greenpeace did it,” Cervino said. “I've just been at the site, finding out what's going on.”He believes it appeared on either Sunday or Monday. Since then he has fielded calls from neighbors who know he is involved with studying the land there.”We do know that there are toxins buried there, according to the developer's reports,” he said, adding his test results would be back next week. Vogt said she had been down to inspect the sign.”I couldn't tell you who put them up or what's going on there,” she said. “Nobody called me to tell me who did it.”Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
