Gov. Hochul: $4M available for cleaning up proposed East Farmingdale housing site

ALBANY — The federal government will provide as much as $4 million for any further cleaning necessary to convert a former aircraft parts manufacturing site in East Farmingdale into housing, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.

The 13-acre site, controlled by the state Department of Transportation, is on Conklin Street in an unused part of Republic Airport. Hochul announced that the state is looking for proposals from developers to transform the site. The state has set an Aug. 7 deadline to receive proposals.

The site is part of an 88-acre property that underwent years of hazardous waste remediation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The full parcel was used by The Fairchild Republic Co. to manufacture aircraft parts and related parts from 1931 to 1987. The site has been vacant since the 1990s and has become what local residents call an eyesore.

On Friday, Hochul said $4 million in federal funds will be available because “some remediation may be needed on site for potential subsurface environmental contamination.” It is part of her state initiative to address a housing affordability crisis statewide.

The site is bordered by Long Island Rail Road tracks to the north and Broadhollow Road to the west. The property is equally close to the LIRR’s Farmingdale and Pinelawn stations, with quick access to Route 110.

The site is no longer being remediated by the state for contamination by hazardous waste. Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman John Salka III, citing a report, said, “The remedy remains protective of public health and the environment.”

The DEC report states that storage tanks, waste and other materials were removed during cleanups of the property in 1991.

The site planned for housing isn’t the main plant site, which is downhill, or “downgradient,” from the property. The state in 1998 required the company to install a groundwater pump and treatment system at the main plant to remediate a plume of a chlorinated volatile organic compound. That’s a chemical used in solvents that the National Institutes of Health said has a potential connection to cancer.

The plume is migrating from the former plant site southward beneath Republic Airport, not toward the planned housing site. Salka said the plume is intercepted by the groundwater extraction and treatment plant located at the south end of the airport. Soil was removed in 1998 and cleaned of pollution.

The EPA in a recent report stated federal corrective action at the full 88-acre site was completed in 2006: “There are no unacceptable human exposures to contamination … the current human exposures are under control.”

EPA spokesman Elias Rodriguez said an official familiar with the project wasn’t available to comment Friday.

The EPA has stated that soil was once contaminated primarily by trichloroethylene used in making refrigerants, which the National Cancer Institute states can cause kidney cancer after long or repeated exposure. The EPA also said the site was once contaminated with perchloroethylene in a tank and vapor degreaser in a building that has since been razed. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said perchloroethylene can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and respiratory system, may cause liver damage and is a potential cancer causer.

The EPA report said that elevated levels of chromium were also once detected in the soil underneath two other buildings, which have been leveled.

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said the project will “address the long-standing blight."

Suffolk County Legislature Minority Leader Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon) said the parcel is an “eyesore that has been the subject of complaints for years.”

Both said the project will provide much-needed housing to the area.

“The way you keep people living on Long Island is you give them housing options,” Hochul said, “so they can stay close to their families, so they can raise their kids in the same great neighborhoods.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.