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Light Rain Cleaning up 175 Roger Ave. in Inwood
DEC makes plans for brownfield site
The nearly 5-acre site that once housed a sheet metal fabrication factory at 175 Roger Ave. in Inwood lies vacant after the 155,000-square foot, one story building was demolished in 2018. Current applicants Inwood 175 LLC and AJM Capital II LLC bought the property from Nassau County one year earlier.
Designated a brownfield site by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the land is being considered for cleanup. A brownfield site is defined by the DEC as any “real property where a contaminant is present at levels exceeding the soil cleanup objectives or other health-based or environmental standards, criteria or guidance,” that the DEC adheres to.
Sheet metal fabrication began at the site in 1961. From roughly 1971 to 1987, Rockaway Metal Products used the property. When the company left it was discovered that the company had disposed of and improperly stored hazardous waste material. In 1993, the federal Environmental Protection Agency conducted what is called an emergency removal action and removed the barrels of waste.
The DEC, along with the state’s Department of Health, has determined that the site “poses a significant threat to public health or the environment.” Chemicals tetrachloroethene known as PCE and trichloroethene commonly called TCE were found in the groundwater at levels surpassing water quality standards. There were also higher than usual levels of metals such as cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury.
After completing its review, the DEC will approve the investigation report that will then be made available to the public for comment for 45 days.
The current documents can be found online at, Index of /data/DecDocs/C130164 (ny.gov) and at Peninsula Public Library, 280 Central Ave. in Lawrence.
