In preparation for the start of Baker Field construction later this month, Columbia has scheduled an informational meeting with Inwood residents for April 26, where locals hope to voice their concerns.
The meeting, which will be held Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Chrystie Field House, will cover the construction plans for the new Campbell Sports Center and Boathouse Marsh—two major projects that make up the University’s $50 million development plans at Baker Field, which sits at 218th Street and Broadway in Inwood Heights.
By the end of this month, Columbia will begin erecting perimeter site fencing and delivering equipment, a University spokesperson said.
Columbia’s plans—which include coaches’ offices, a student-athlete study center, and meeting spaces at the new 48,000-square-foot athletics complex and a public waterfront park—were approved earlier this month by the City Council, which allowed Columbia to provide only 1.5 percent of its property for public waterfront access instead of the 15 percent required by law—a 90 percent waiver.
In exchange, local residents and politicians pushed to finalize a community partnership agreement with specific benefits for Inwood locals—something that has yet to happen. Susan Russell, City Council member Robert Jackson’s chief of staff, said Monday night that she was told to expect a draft of the agreement to come in from Columbia that night, but she had not yet received a draft at the time of publication.
Susan Ryan, an organizer of Advocates for Inwood Manhattan, said she’s glad the informational open house is happening, but that outstanding concerns about construction—some of which are being negotiated as part of the community partnership agreement—still remain.
“There are things such as pest management and rat abatement,” Ryan said, noting that such issues were brought up in the city’s Environmental Assessment Statement. “One of the other issues is the demolition of the building and how that’s going to affect nearby residents. The permit for the project says it’s a non-asbestos project, but we actually have questions about that.”
Ryan, noting the presence of schoolchildren at the two elementary and middle schools across from Baker Field, added that Columbia’s remedial action plan is of particular concern.
According to Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Statement, no evidence of subsurface hazardous materials were found from soil and groundwater sampling, but the “greatest potential for exposure to these materials would occur during demolitions of existing structures (which could contain building materials such as asbestos and lead-based paint) and during subsurface disturbance associated with construction of the proposed project.”
Ryan said she also has reservations about the pace of the project because residents were not made aware that construction was happening so soon—she had to initiate the conversation about holding pre-construction meetings, a provision of the unresolved community partnership agreement.
“They knew that construction was going to happen, and we had to read about it in the newspaper,” Ryan said of Columbia. “We had to come to them.”
Ryan said she heard Columbia responded to AIM members after they inquired this past weekend about a date for the pre-construction meeting, but that concerns have yet to be resolved.
“We’re not trying to unnecessarily alarm people, but we deserve answers and we want answers from qualified professionals,” Ryan said.
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