City's Planned Expansion Into Fort Totten Questioned By Lawmaker

BAYSIDE, QUEENS -- One Queens-based lawmaker is calling for the city to drop the secrecy surrounding its potential expansion into Fort Totten.

State Senator Tony Avella (D-Bayside) had some harsh words for Mayor Bill de Blasio in a recent letter expressing his concerns with the "serious lack of information" available on talk of the city's corrections and fire departments using space on the former active U.S. Army Installation in Bayside.

The FDNY had proposed building a wind turbine on the southeast portion of Fort Totten in an October 2017 meeting with Community Board 7, and the Department of Corrections said it was considering using the area for a training facility. The former army installation, parts of which are designated as public parks, already houses quarters for the NYPD, FDNY and the U.S. Army Reserve.

But Avella said after learning of the proposed expansion in October - and submitting Freedom of Information requests to the mayor's office, FDNY, DOC and other city agencies - he's received little information on what they entail.

"I am astounded by the amount of secrecy regarding this proposal," Avella wrote in the letter.

As of Jan. 11, Avella said he'd only received copies of a feasibility study for "the supposed purpose of DOC and FDNY training facilities" at Fort Totten, which appeared to cost more than $1 million. He said both the NYPD and FDNY denied having such documents.

"What are you hiding?" he wrote. "In addition, why has the community been left out of this discussion and when were you going to notify the community of your plans - after the fact?"

Avella requested a full briefing on the city's plans for Fort Totten, adding that he hoped this was not a hidden plan to place a jail on the fort, which would be "fought vigorously by the whole community."

Peter Thorne, the DOC's deputy commissioner of public information, reassured the study doesn't include plans for a jail, just additional space for training staff.

"We look forward to seeing the results of the study once it's completed," Thorne told Patch.

Lead photo by Mike Groll/Associated Press