Park Slope Construction Nightmare Floods, Cracks Homes: Residents

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A three-year construction nightmare in northern Park Slope that residents say has cracked foundations and flooded basements of nearby homes could come to a head this week, locals say.

Residents will get the chance Wednesday to talk face-to-face with city officials leading the sewer and water main upgrades around Sixth Avenue in a forum set up by the St. Johns Place Community Association. The project has been disrupting the neighborhood since the city started prepping for it back in 2016, organizers say.

The association, which sits in the middle of the massive city-led project, has been meeting for years about the traffic, flooding, property damage and noise issues the construction has created, but this is the first time city officials will join them, co-founder Nicolas Rossier said.

"Hopefully the Town Hall will be another wakeup call for them because people are really tired," Rossier said. "It's just been terribly disruptive."

The project, called Bed798, is meant to replace "old and deteriorated" water mains along Park Place, St. Johns Place, Sixth Avenue and install mains on Baltic Street, Douglas Street and Butler Street, according to a project summary by the engineering company.

Rossier said complaints about the project come in by the hundreds to his association.

Perhaps the worst of it, he said, was back in July, when more than 60 homeowners said their basements that normally don't flood became inundated with water around the time workers were relocating sewers.

Other homeowners have said they noticed cracks in their basement walls after digging near their home. At least 21 different houses complained of some kind of property damage, according to the association's log.

"Every block has different experiences, but overall the quality of life has really been altered substantially for the whole area," Rossier said.

(Provided by the St. Johns Place Community Association) Examples of flooding and cracks in homes near the construction.

The city's Department of Design and Construction, which is leading the project, said they are looking into both the flooding complaints and foundations cracks.

"The city has hired an independent consultant to investigate the cause of the flooding," DDC spokesperson Ian Michaels said. "In the meantime, we have added additional pumping capacity at the site."

Rossier said he's hopeful things can turn around, especially with the Town Hall coming up.

The association has prepared a list of more than 20 questions they hope to ask the officials. The questions ask about flooding and property damage, but also about air quality, traffic, parking and other concerns the neighborhood has struggled with since the project started.

(Provided by the St. Johns Place Community Association) An example of the air quality issues residents have complained about.

The city officials — including DDC, the mayor's office and Council Member Brad Lander's office — have been more responsive in the past month than they had before, Rossier said.

"I think they have realized after the flood event that affected 60-plus homes that something was not managed properly," he said. "For us it's really about getting through the next two years and to prevent something even worse."

The forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at 139 St. Johns Place. A representative from DDC, Lander's office, the mayor's office and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams' office are expected to be there.