Pact Sought on Pile Driving Near P.S. 234 By Etta Sanders Just as P.S. 234 students were getting ready to start the new school year, City Councilman Alan Gerson was working to hammer out an agreement with developers to avoid months of ear-splitting pile driving directly across the street from the school. Construction of a residential and retail complex on Site 5B, the lot bordered by Warren, Greenwich, Murray and West Streets, is slated to begin this fall. The planned sale of the city-owned property is scheduled to come before a Council committee for a vote on Sept. 7, with a final Council vote likely to take place two weeks later. But Gerson said that unless there is an adequate noise-abatement agreement, in writing, the Council will vote against the application. "We've made it clear that we'll turn it down if they don't have a noise plan," he said. "We're not going to put up with three months of noisy construction work during school hours." The parties made some progress by the end of last month. After testing the ground in the spring, the project's developer, Minskoff Equities, had said that it would need to drive 1,200 piles over 12 weeks. By exploring alternatives, including larger piles, they were able to reduce that number by half, to 600 piles over eight weeks, according to Gerson's office. One of those weeks, they agreed, will be during Christmas break when school is out. The work could begin in October. Additionally, Minskoff has agreed to construct a sound barrier along the south side of Warren Street, which would reduce the decibel level from 90 to 80, or a 50 percent reduction, according to Gerson. But school and community officials say they are not sure that is enough. "We're trying to determine what an acceptable noise level should be," said Sandy Bridges, the principal of P.S. 234. "I don't know what 80 decibels sounds like." The PTA is planning to hire an independent noise consultant with its own funds, but the money cannot be allocated until parents meet after the school year begins. Gerson said they will have a consultant in place in time to work out a final agreement. With 65 school windows directly facing the site, Bridges said, it's critical that classroom time not be disrupted. "It's time that can never be regained. I've got testing in January. If I'm going to have brain-numbing pile driving [before then], that just doesn't make any sense. It will make it too hard for the kids. Workers have to protect their ears, but you can't put ear plugs on all the kids." Under an agreement between Gerson and the city, the developer must use "community-friendly" procedures as a condition of the land sale. The goal, Gerson said, is for construction on the Site 5B project to be no more disruptive than work done last spring by Resnick & Sons on Site 5C, the lot behind the school. That project used a quieter method for pile driving. Community Board 1 sent a letter to Minskoff suggesting that the work schedule be shifted to start at 1 p.m. and end at 9 p.m., and offered to work with the trade unions on making those accommodations. That would limit the amount of pile driving during the school day, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., but may not be acceptable to nearby residents. Some parents at the school feel there is no amount of pile driving that would be acceptable during school hours. John Jiler, who heads a parents' construction committee, said many of the school's more than 700 families will participate in a demonstration near the site if the construction impairs learning. The real issue is money, he said. "This is easily doable outside of school hours if Minskoff was willing to pay." The noise abatement could add as much as $2 million to the construction costs, according to Gerson's office. Those costs may be negotiated as part of the sale of the property. "It might involve extra money," said Gerson, "but that pales in comparison to subjecting children to three months of excessive noise." A spokeswoman for Minskoff Equities said the developer would not comment until an agreement had been reached.