Public Statement August 19, 2019: Boring isn’t boring when you need boring to know if a building can crumble.

Ed Note: Kingston’s Planning Board held a hearing August 19 to receive public comment on studies the Kingstonian’s developers recently made available. The studies included geotechnical, storm water and sewer, traffic, visual impact and green aspects of the proposed development. Here is my statement concerning a cut off report from the geotechnical engineer. The studies and links to video recordings of the hearing are available in the sidebar entitled Physical Properties. Here is the full report, added subsequently.

On the way in, I asked [Kingstonian] engineer Dennis Larios what he thought about lacustrine soil. I also asked what he thought about the conclusion of Vernon Hoffman’s geotechnical report regarding the lacustrine soil. He was honest enough to admit he hadn’t read the report and that it was the purview of another engineer and the architect.

Of course, I don’t know about Mr. Hoffman’s conclusion either, because the report was cut off. I DO know what lacustrine soil is, because I looked it up.

The reason we need to worry about lacustrine soil is because the garage that stood on the land where the developers want to build had to be torn down. What guarantee is there that the Kingstonian won’t have to be torn down? You think I’m alarmist? Listen to a podcast called The Signal that came out yesterday that describes buildings in Australia – high rises built in the past few years — that had to be vacated because of cracks. In one building, the engineer said there was a 60% chance the structure was on the verge of collapse. The reason: cutting corners with construction.

These developers have already proved they gild the lily. From the parking fairy tale to the silly “Green Concepts” letter, they have proved they’ll spin a story when it suits them, and there’s no reason to believe they will be any more respectful of the truth when it comes to cones and borings.

We don’t know the future of rising waters, but we do know the Esopus flows nearby, and we know the Esopus floods. With the extra rains due to global warming, what will happen to the water table and to the soil that the developers themselves liken to toothpaste 40 feet below?

Mr. Hoffman’s report clearly states that the number of borings and cone probes done so far is relatively small for the total area of buildings planned. He recommends one or two days of additional cone testing and two days of additional boring. To grant a neg dec before this is done would be irresponsible.

We know that money is a big deal and margins are thin, because the developers are dead set against an affordable housing set aside and they say rent is what will fund the garage. If the numbers are that close, and if their own report that is supposed to form the basis of a SEQRA declaration says the number of borings was too small, who’s to say they won’t cut corners with future cones and borings and with construction?

Mr. Hoffman’s report is dated December 2017, yet it was just released a few weeks ago, giving the people of Kingston only a short time to digest a complicated engineering matter. Why wasn’t this made public earlier in the process? I don’t know if YOU, the planning board, had this report and kept it to yourselves, but if you did, why? Or if it’s the developers who delayed releasing the reports, don’t you wonder why?

In light of these cut off reports, in light of the lacustrine soil, and in light of heavier rains and possible Esopus floods caused by global warming, in light of the way the Landmarks Commission was muzzled when they raised these same issues, and in light of the fact that you haven’t bothered to discuss these concerns publicly, to hand down a negative declaration in the SEQRA process either approaches or has crossed into the territory of reckless endangerment. If anything happens to these buildings and people die as a result, it will redound to you and you will live with the guilt for the rest of your life.

This could be a matter of life and death. You must issue a pos dec so the people of Kingston can know with whatever certainty is humanly possible whether it is safe to build on this land.