NEW BRIGHTON — The city will close a Department of Sanitation garage on Jersey Street and spend $111 million to move it to Freshkills.
The decision was welcomed by neighbors and elected officials who have fought for years to shutter the garage, which will be co-located with another Sanitation garage at Freshkills, off the West Shore Expressway.
"With trucks clogging the roads and emitting fumes throughout the day and night, the garage is not only an eyesore and health hazard, but it impedes the economic revitalization that other North Shore neighborhoods are beginning to see," said Councilwoman Debi Rose, who's fought for years to shut the garage.
"Moving the Jersey Street garage will forever transform this neighborhood."
Residents complained for nearly 20 years that the garage was overcrowded and created a bad smell in the neighborhood because trucks would be parked outside and cleaned. They also said it prevented businesses from moving into the area.
"It just sent the wrong message about that neighborhood," said Leticia Remauro, the former chair of CB1, which held rallies in 2010 and 2011 with Rose to get the facility moved.
"Nobody would want to locate retail right across from a maintenance facility that looked like that. Removing that garage is like saying we believe in this neighborhood and we want people to come here and invest."
Last year, the city released a request for proposals for a developer to buy the property and redevelop it.
The city has not selected an applicant for the spot yet, but Rose said they've received proposals for a supermarket, a child care facility, housing and retail space.
"Once the budget is finalized next month, the process of relocating the garage to Freshkills will still be a long-term one," Rose said. "We won’t see change on Jersey Street overnight, but the wheels are finally turning on this project."
Construction on the new Freshkills site is expected to start between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, a spokeswoman for the Department of Sanitation said.
