BY ZACH WILLIAMS | Cleanup work has slowed down at the site of an Oct. 20 fire at a W. 17th St. building following resident complaints about how a 24/7 street closure between Seventh and Eighth Aves. sparked a traffic surge two blocks south.
The developer of a condominium project at 221 W. 17th St. agreed on Nov. 5 to limit the closure from 8 a.m. to noon. This reduction could extend the work into early December, but will lower the influx of traffic to W. 15th St. in combination with other new measures taken by city agencies, said Councilmember Corey Johnson.
Johnson organized the Nov. 5 meeting between the developer, residents, the NYPD, and the city departments of buildings (DOB), transportation (DOT) and sanitation, that resulted in the change. When work does occur, the DOT will deploy signs instructing drivers to use W. 14th St. to move westbound. The NYPD also agreed to focus on illegal truck traffic on W. 15th St. that often exacerbates the traffic flow on the narrow crosstown street.
Sanitation workers will assist the developer in removing debris from the site so it does not pile up too much, Johnson said in an email. Residents will also be spared the effects of DOB permits allowing work around the clock, he added.
“Night-time construction has caused significant disturbance for the neighbors, many of whom have school-age children,” he said. “After the meeting I expressed my concern about this directly to [DOB] Commissioner Chandler, and I requested that work be limited to reasonable hours, which I anticipate will happen shortly.”
The situation on W. 17th St. was noticeably different on the afternoon of Nov. 9. Traffic moved along the street with relative ease between Seventh and Eighth Aves., with a construction worker directing traffic with an orange flag.
A spokesperson for the DOB said in an email that work would likely conclude before Dec. 10. But some street closure is required in order for workers to use a crane to clean heavy debris. The future of the damaged building remains at the discretion of the owner, since a post-fire inspection determined that it was not in danger of collapse, the spokesperson said.
But not everyone among the few dozen residents who came to the Nov. 5 meeting, held at the Rubin Museum of Art (150 W. 17 St. btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.), left the meeting satisfied. Stanely Bulbach, president of the West 15th Street 100 and 200 Block Association, said in an email to Chelsea Now that the developer exerted too much control at the meeting and adequate notice was not given to residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
Only about eight residents from W.15th St. attended the meeting with a few days’ notice he said. In a neighborhood where city agencies encourage development by accommodating late night construction and traffic detours, he added that he does not have “great expectations” about the overall traffic situation on his block moving forward, he added.
“Even after this nightmare is past, there will still be the DOT permits for cranes to block West 17th Street whenever something has to be hoisted to the roof,” he said. “For the years during the reconstruction of the Walker [Telephone] Building, DOT left it up to the developers to close West 17th whenever they wished, and DOT permitted developers to be responsible for the detour signage, which developers rarely removed or updated.”
