Astoria residents, already feeling overburdened by noise and pollution, are objecting to Con Edison's plans to sell 21 acres of waterfront access land to a company that plans to lease the land to Federal Express for use as a ground distribution center.

About 200 residents and representatives from a number of community organizations met last Wednesday at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Astoria to voice their objections. Their main gripe is that this portion of northwestern Queens is already overburdened with traffic coming and going to La Guardia Airport and Rikers Island.

The global shipping company has said that it plans to employ 180 people at the facility, which will also be the base for 80 delivery trucks and 50 tractor trailers.

"I don't want all these diesel trucks running 24 hours a day in my neighborhood," said Barbara Michaels, 43, adding that her two children, a 15-year-old boy and nine-year-old girl, both have asthma.

As well as traffic concerns, other residents are worried the plan will cut off a vital link to the waterfront.

"At the very minimum, they must allow us waterfront access," said Mike Heffron, chairman of the Queens Committee of Transportation Alternatives.

This was echoed by Katie Ellman of Greenshores New York. "We are an island people after all," she said.

The meeting was organized by Coalition for a Better Astoria.

Representatives from Con Ed and Fed Ex were invited but did not attend.

In an emailed statement, a representative from Con Ed said proceeds would "go back into our rate base, keeping our customers' bills down. We have the interests of the community in mind."

The statement, which was read at the meeting, brought jeers from the crowd, including complaints that Con Ed had only recently hiked its rates.

Fed Ex currently has a ground distribution center on 47th Street in Maspeth that employs 188 people. This facility would close should the deal with Con Ed go through. Fed Ex also said that 500 construction jobs would be created in the development of the new facility.

Steel Equities, a Long Island-based real estate developer specializing in commercial park development, is the potential buyer of the land. The company plans to develop a 225,000-square-foot building and lease it to Fed Ex for 20 years.

Local community leaders and politicians, including Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, have expressed their opposition to the plan, which still needs approval from the state's Public Service Commission.

Both lawmakers, as well as Community Board 1, have issued letters to the PSC outlining their objections.