Jan. 29, 2014: Key personnel from Gateway Development Group, designated builder of the Kensington Road project, have begun to gather information about the impact the construction site will have on the neighbors who are most concerned about the anticipated 24-to-27-month construction period.

Truck traffic during environmental remediation, dust, and vibration generated by rock removal are of primary concern, especially to Christ Church, which sits directly across Kensington Road from the site. The historic building has stained glass windows and a new pipe organ. The church complex houses a preschool with over 100 students.

Gateway is working with the village to establish truck routes and schedules for the number of trucks that will enter and leave the site per hour during the excavation process. There are no plans to queue trucks on the streets during excavation.

Before actual construction on the parking garage and residential buildings can begin, Gateway must remove approximately 25,000 to 30,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with coal tar and demolition debris remaining from the former Lawrence Park Heat, Light and Power plant.

The soil may also be contaminated by oil and gasoline leaked from tanks underneath a service station that stood on the site. Kevin McManus, project engineer, estimated that the excavation needed for remediation and also to build the project's parking garage could require removal of 12,000 to 15,000 cubic yards of rock as well.

McManus stated that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) mandates constant air monitoring for dust during the 60-to-90-day excavation period. DEC will have sophisticated monitoring equipment on-site and a project engineer assigned to handle it at all times. McManus explained that if the equipment measures the maximum allowable level of dust, it will trip a warning and all work must stop until dust can be reduced to acceptable levels.

Kensington Road, for the full 600-foot length of the project, will be reconfigured to facilitate excavation and construction. The parking lane and travel lane on the street's west side will be cordoned off and dedicated for construction purposes, primarily for trucks, the construction crane, and other equipment. The street's current northbound lane will become the southbound lane. Parking on the east side of the street will be removed to create the lane for northbound traffic for the duration of the project.

"One of the reasons we're barricading the roadway is to allow truck access, especially as the site gets tighter and the foundation is in," said Neil Deluca, Gateway's community liaison. "There won't be a lot of space."

Although several methods for rock removal are available, including blasting, Gateway must investigate how each option will affect the roadway on Kensington before deciding on the best method. The company will monitor seismic activity during the process.

When actual construction on the parking garage and residential building begins, Deluca said, Gateway can schedule and control deliveries of materials. He anticipates a decline in truck traffic during that phase of the project. The top deck of the parking garage, planned for completion first, will be used to store construction materials for the residential buildings.

"From the community's perspective, getting the site excavated, the garage foundation in place, and the garage enclosed will make the work after that much easier to deal with," McManus said.

Although Gateway representatives acknowledge that construction will be temporarily disruptive to the neighborhood, they believe the finished product, an environmentally clean site with 300 covered parking spaces available to the public and upscale residential units, will only improve the neighborhood.

Pictured here: Christ Church Bronxville.

Photo by A. Warner