A fight over pollution along the Queens-Long Island border is boiling over as residents from one side of the dividing line accuse a concrete recycling plant on the other of spoiling their bayfront air — and see an opening to close the facility for good.
The Inwood Material Terminal sits near Motts Basin in Jamaica Bay, at the start of Inwood in Nassau County. Long barges haul in concrete, large rocks and other construction debris, which is then ground up and recycled for use in various projects. The site was an oil terminal from 1981 until 2007, when it began storing piles of recycled concrete, according to town records.
The terminal’s waterfront location helps with transporting big chunks of concrete on the water and reducing traffic congestion on local roads. But nearby residents say the breezes off Jamaica Bay carry dust from the plant into nearby homes, especially the Redfern Houses, a Far Rockaway public housing development across the street from the facility.
Residents who have long complained about the plant see a chance to force it to move or close with new permit requirements under state environmental regulations. And they say shuttering the site could help herald a new era for Jamaica Bay with more access to recreational activities.
“This is a residential area. There’s no need for factories such as IMT to be in that area,” Ulanda Thompson of community group Rockaways Neighbors Helping Neighbors told The City Reporter.
“They’re grinding up cement from buildings that have been torn down,” said Patricia Bradley, another of the group’s members. “They have a big mound there, they crush it down. You can feel it shaking.”
‘Could Not Happen in a Wealthy Neighborhood’
Group members gathered Tuesday at Jamaica Park along Motts Basin to organize comments against the stone-crushing operation to submit to state environmental regulators. They also met with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards after he checked out the plant by sailboat.
“I call this for what I see it: environmental racism. This could not happen in a wealthy neighborhood,” he said.
Richards acknowledged the importance of the concrete plant in keeping streets paved, but said the Inwood plant “should be gone.
“I think the only option is closure,” he added.
The facility, which is owned and operated by Melville-based Haugland Group, previously did not need a permit for the type of debris crushing and hauling done at the site. In 2023, the state Department of Environmental Conservation changed regulations so facilities like the plant had to get such a permit. Haugland Group filed for one that year and held public meetings to fulfill state requirements. Since then, the department has faulted them for insufficient public outreach and information on how they would reduce emissions and when they would replace their boats.
Rosalie Drago, a spokesperson for the company, said its permit application is complete and the facility will conduct “all DEC-required activities at the site and implement the measures outlined in its public participation plan” as the state review continues.
“IMT takes concerns raised by residents seriously,” she said in a statement. “Over the past two years, we have maintained an open line of communication with local stakeholders, made ourselves available to community leaders and invited residents to participate in a community advisory council.”
The public comment period for the potential permit approval kicked off Wednesday as part of new rules under New York’s Environmental Justice Siting Law.
Across the border, the Town of Hempstead, which includes Inwood, is prosecuting the Haugland Group for allegedly violating local zoning rules by operating without a specific zoning variance.
The next court date in the case is Aug. 25, court records show. Haugland Group did not respond to The City Reporter’s questions about the case.
‘Constantly Cleaning This Dirt Up’
Some neighbors, including Redfern Houses Resident Council President Kimberly Comes, suggested the plant be domed to keep the debris inside — or removed entirely.
“The residents find themselves constantly cleaning this dirt up in their homes,” Comes said. “We’re concerned that it’s in the air we’re breathing. We haven’t had the opportunity to have enough money to have testing to say, ‘This is what is making folks sick.’”
IMT last year provided 200 air purifiers for Redfern tenants, according to residents. The New York City Housing Authority says the complex includes more than 600 apartments.
Far Rockaway residents said they’ll keep pushing for the plant’s closure and a different future for Jamaica Bay.
“We gotta open up this waterway, so that people can enjoy it and be able to really enjoy life in our community,” Vernell Robinson, cofounder and chair of RNHN, said Tuesday a few feet from the water at Jamaica Bay Park, which sits next to a power plant.
Comes said she imagined nature trails and a dock for fishing and kayaking that her neighbors could use to access the water.
“It would be nice to be able to cross Beach Channel Drive and go to a park, sit on a bench and just watch the sunset. We get a beautiful view of the sunset,” she said.
“Right now,” she added, “You see the sunset and the industrial plant.”
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