Temporary fix completed for unstable retaining wall on Notre Dame Academy’s property

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When stones and chunks of a hillside retaining wall on Notre Dame Academy's property came crashing down onto a section of Victory Boulevard sidewalk, in Silver Lake between Eddy Street and Forest Avenue, the day before Thanksgiving, the cascade caused $1,000 worth of damage to the passenger-side front door panel of Anthony Sabatino's brand-new 2013 Lincoln SUV.

It could have been much worse, and not only for his vehicle, he said. Residents of nearby apartment buildings park along that stretch of Victory Boulevard, and "people walk along there with strollers and kids."

Sabatino said he was outraged that, after the incident, Notre Dame "roped it off and called it a day," without removing the rocks, rubble, and downed small tree.

The mini-landslide was caused when part of a retaining wall halfway up the hill became dislodged, Sister Patricia Corley, president of Notre Dame Academy, explained to the Advance on Dec. 31.

The wall, located behind Notre Dame's elementary school, is 85 feet long and two-and-a-half to five-feet high, she added. "The edge of that wall, due to freezing and melting, became dislodged."

Following the incident, Notre Dame signed a contract with a mason, but clearing the mess and working on the site was delayed by a combination of poor weather and the holidays, Sister Corley said.

The mason has since "cleaned all the debris and loose rocks, and put up a wooden barrier" to intercept anything that might fall in the future, she said in a Jan. 2 update.

The mason will return in the spring, to install reinforcing bars into the retaining wall, she added.

Sister Corley acknowledged the "challenge" of maintaining the hillside.

"Over the past few years, we've engaged masons to fix, maintain, and fill in," walls on the property, she said on Dec. 31. "We're very much aware of our obligation, and very much on top of it."

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Temporary fix completed for unstable retaining wall on Notre Dame Academy's property