Odors, flies and noise have been plaguing neighbors of Coney Island sanitation garage for decades

For more than four decades, residents living near Brooklyn's District 13 Sanitation Garage in Coney Island have been waiting for the facility to move away from their homes.

For some, years of stalled plans and failed promises have led to skepticism.

"A never-ending ongoing process"  

One longtime neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said the garage has made it difficult for families to enjoy their own spaces.

"The smell, the flies, the garbage being picked up by seagulls and dropped into our yard. It basically makes the backyards useless because you don't want to be out there," she said.

The resident said her family was told when they purchased their home in the 1980s that the sanitation garage would be gone.

"We were told when we purchased the house that the sanitation garage would be moving out. They were actually in the process of relocating and that fell through," she told CBS News New York's Hannah Kliger. "It's been a never-ending ongoing process of them trying to find a new location and promises of us, you know, getting rid of it and it not being basically in our backyard."

She added, "It came to a point where every single time they came to us and was like, 'This is going to happen.' We were like, 'You know what? We'll believe it when we see it.'"

Previous plan fell through

A plan proposed before the COVID-19 pandemic would have combined the Brooklyn District 13 in Coney Island and District 15 in Sheepshead Bay sanitation garages into one larger facility on a site farther away from residential neighborhoods.

But according to Eddie Mark, district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 13, the proposed site was later sold to a private developer.

"When we were going to sign a 99-year lease for the land, they pulled out," he said. "Saying that the money was not available for this project and we were going to fight it, but then COVID happened."

Theresa Scavo, chair of Brooklyn Community Board 15, said the current Sheepshead Bay sanitation garage consists of trailers along Knapp Street without a permanent structure.

"The idea was rather than spending money here on a garage, there on a garage, combine one big garage, for both community boards," Scavo said.

Asked what she thought of the proposal, Scavo responded, "Great! Give these guys a garage. Look what's going on here. They're in trailers. It's ridiculous."

DSNY evaluating potential upgrades

With no relocation plan currently in place, community leaders say they are once again searching for alternative sites.

"Our concern is more of finding a new spot for them, whether it's city owned or something that they can purchase," Mark said.

A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Sanitation said the agency regularly reviews its operational and capital needs.

In a statement, the department said, in part: "We are proud to be opening new garages this year in Staten Island and Brooklyn, and we will continue to evaluate potential upgrades…"

While new sanitation garages are being developed elsewhere in the city, residents living near the Coney Island facility say the longstanding issues of odors, flies, and noise remain an everyday reality.

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