Roosevelt Island residents raise concerns over steam plant demolition

While New York City Housing Preservation and Development is gearing up to tear down the plant and stacks, that is generating concerns, including thousands of signatures, rather than relief among many residents and legislators.

A procession of red trucks has been driving back and forth along the main street, packed with materials, and the stacks themselves, and possibly the ground may be packed with toxins. 

The City said it invoked “emergency” procedures to raze the building as quickly as possible to prevent it from potentially collapsing.

Those emergency procurements allowed it to bypass certain environmental oversight and community notifications under SEQRA, a much more rigorous process. Residents who oppose the demolition say building violations suggest the City let the building fall into disrepair and is using an “emergency” pretext to argue speedy demolition is the only way to protect the public without exploring other options.

Demolition of a steam plant in Chicago, residents said, led to illness, and the process is less rigorous than what Cornell University did when it demolished a hospital built in the same era as the steam plant and built a new campus on the island over a decade ago nearby. 

As a result, the demolition of a defunct steam plant, near playgrounds, a daycare, a recreation field and thousands of residents, and near an area some already call “Asthma Alley,” has ignited a huge wave of trepidation rather than thanks.

“I’m just worried about the safety of it done with the age of the building as far as the environmental concerns,” Miles said. “I would honestly consider that a concern for anything in New York that is probably older than 1950.”

The plant, which opened in 1939 and was decommissioned in 2014, contains everything from lead paint to asbestos and other potential toxins, residents said.

“It’s about following the right procedures,” Co-founder of the Architectural Community Alliance of Roosevelt Island Kalin Kresnitchki said. “We want a community protection plan, air monitoring and we want feasibility study with the involvement of the community.”

Kresnitchki pointed to thousands of signatures from people concerned the demolition may be taking shortcuts compromising safety.

“We have 2,000 names on the petition to stop demolition,” he said. “We have a resolution of Community Board 8 supporting our request.”

The entity charged with overseeing Roosevelt Island, under a state lease from New York City, said the project is out of its control.

“The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation has no oversight or authority on the project as it’s a city-owned building,” said RIOC spokesman Bryant Daniels.

Assembly Member Rebecca A. Seawright said her office has pressed for “full transparency around environmental protections” such as air quality monitoring, asbestos abatement, and site safety.”

“The safety and well-being of Roosevelt Island residents must come first,” Seawright said. “The community deserves clear, consistent information and meaningful input as this process unfolds.”

HPD’s Emergency or Urgency

Some residents say the motivation for rapid demolition is redevelopment, not public safety. They point to an announcement made by Gov.  Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams late last year that redevelopment of Roosevelt Island, home to 12,000 residents and over 100 businesses, would include a larger residential population. 

“The State and City will work together to plan for possible redevelopment of the defunct Roosevelt Island Steam Plant site, which is on land leased to the state,” they said.

HPD says they’ve been moving ahead with demolition of that site as expeditiously as possible and air quality tests will begin with smoke stack demolition. HPD Press Secretary Kim Moscaritolo said the Department of Buildings in July 2024 issued two orders, including “an emergency order to seal and secure the site.”

She said a second order sought demolition within five months and “as soon as possible,” which led to an accelerated process.

“Public safety is of the highest concern,” she said. “Collapse of these structures would be immediately hazardous to the community due to the collapse itself and the debris/related contaminants that would be released in an extremely uncontrolled manner.”

Moscaritolo said because DOB told them to demolish the structure as soon as possible, they “utilized emergency procurement procedures to acquire a vendor, which are exempted from SEQRA.”

Moscaritolo said they “are following all applicable laws and environmental regulations to ensure that this demolition is completed as safely as possible.”

Maspeth-based Statewide Demolition Corp. is doing the demolition of a project not required to follow the more rigorous ULURP procedures. 
Community residents are concerned about the steam plant demolition.Photo by Claude Solnik

Concerned community

Residents say a collapse would be hazardous, but believe destroying the building, especially without extensive environmental review, could do more harm than good, when it comes to public health.

Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal has said he has been advocating “for independent air quality monitoring and public release of structural reports.”

Dozens of residents who attended a Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island Committee virtual meeting expressed alarm over an accelerated process after more than 100 at an earlier Board meeting.

“It was declared as an emergency in the public eye without being an emergency,” Kresnitchki continued. “They should go through a procedure which includes environmental investigation, remediation and a community protection plan.”

Cornell’s demolition and construction nearby went through ULURP and greater environmental due diligence.

“Cornell did do a different process that we would like to see replicated here,” Roosevelt Island resident Emanuella Grinberg said

She said Cornell used “utmost integrity, transparency, and due diligence that included consistent public notification and comment period from the start.”

They, she said, made disclosures of environmental impact assessments “before demolition started, safety protocols, air monitoring, presence of toxic contaminants (and plans for containment), among other features.”

“They did an environmental study,” Angelique Senter, an activist and local resident, said. “They found the contaminants and then they demolished things safely. “My concern is that they’re not doing it safely while Cornell did it safely.”

Senter said a Chicago steam plant “demolition didn’t go right and they had a gigantic bloom of contaminated dust.”

Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation representative Brian Daniels affirmed their commitment to forming a Citizens Advisory Group once HPD and DOB commit. 

“Their pledges are meaningless without action with the clock ticking toward demo,” Grinberg added.

Building decision.

Engineers from DOB’s Forensic Engineering Unit determined the steam plant and smokestacks “were in severe disrepair and at risk of collapse,” according to DOB Press Secretary Andrew Rudansky.

He said the smokestacks had structural cracks, steel straps missing, and were leaning, while the main building “had multiple façade issues that were not adequately addressed by the temporary netting.”

Because they were “posing a hazard to the public,” the DOB said it ordered the “buildings to be demolished in the interest of public safety.”

“This DOB order does not allow the property owners to bypass applicable approvals from other agencies,” Rudansky said, while some residents said not requiring SEQRA does just that.

DOB, as of 2023, issued 10 violations, asking for cracks to be repaired, followed by an emergency order to install a shed and otherwise protect the public.

Community Board 8 has unanimously voted to seek to stop the demolition and explore possibilities for adaptive reuse. 

“Any contaminants that come from that building are going to land over there,” Miles said. “This is a small island, and anything torn down here is going to have an effect on the whole island, especially those of us that live right here.”

Kresnitchki said they want the safest, not fastest, approach to the plant, and don’t believe that’s being done.

“There is asbestos in the steam plant and lead paint. The way it’s happening is endangering the health of residents,” Kresnitchki added. “The residents of the island are raising the issue. We want to be on the record. We’re not giving up.”