Source: http://missoulian.com, September 23, 2015
By: Martin Kidston
Representatives of two Missoula neighborhoods sat down with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday night to discuss the cleanup timeline for a defunct industrial site on the city’s north side.
The DEQ released its record of decision for the 43-acre White Pine Sash site in February. The decision determined that one-fourth of the land, or roughly 10 acres, must be cleaned to meet residential standards.
With the record of decision in the books, DEQ set out to write a remedial action plan with the liable party, Huttig Building Products. That plan was released in May and details the steps Huttig must take to rid the property of contaminants.
“Huttig has proposed a schedule detailing some of the upcoming activities it wants to conduct,” said Syris Trahan, an environmental science specialist with DEQ. “The process will proceed with Huttig submitting its design documents and work plans. DEQ will review them and implement each phase of the remedy as it comes along.”
According to DEQ, the property was contaminated by decades of chemical leaks and spills by a window sash company. Contamination was discovered in 1993 when underground storage tanks were removed.
Cleanup on portions of the site may be relatively simple, while other areas will be more challenging. A segment of property east of Scott Street must be cleaned to meet residential standards while a land treatment unit will be placed west of the street.
“It’s a bio-remediation unit, and it will take place on the site due to restrictions on how you can dispose of listed hazardous wastes,” said Trahan. “Once a certain threshold is met, the remaining contaminants can be disposed of in a commercial landfill.”
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How long that will take remains a pressing issue for residents and their representatives on the Northside and Westside neighborhood councils.
The area was recently included in a new urban renewal district created by the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, and the interest among developers is mounting as they look for property close to the city’s urban core.
“At some point, the city of Missoula’s interest here is having this ground back in production,” Mayor John Engen said at Tuesday’s meeting. “From the involved party (Huttig), when will that happen? I heard five years, and that sounds like a long time.”
Moriah Bucy, state Superfund supervisor with DEQ, said the speed at which the process moves forward will depend in part on the capacity of the land treatment unit.
“The western half will be behind in development potential,” said Bucy. “If Huttig is able to expedite work on the eastern side, which it said is what it plans to do, then that will be available for reuse sooner than the western side.”
Bryan Douglass, a consultant representing Huttig, said a 9.7-acre section of the property on the east half could be ready for residential development by the end of next year.
Area residents are still pushing for residential cleanup beyond the 10 acres mandated by DEQ. One local developer has plans to begin a $10 million entry-level housing project on the former Clawson Manufacturing site, located just north of the White Pine Sash property.
The first phase of that project received $518,000 in tax increment financing from MRA in July. Residents want to see the pattern expanded beyond what DEQ authorized for residential use at White Pine.
“What’s happening at the Clawson site presents a very good argument that with clean soil, in that neighborhood and that close to the railroad tracks, that the highest and best economic use is for residential development,” said Bob Oaks. “I think that’s being demonstrated with the Clawson site.”
Trahan said some aspects of the cleanup, such as construction of the treatment unit, the excavation of soils near the site’s industrial center, and application of a chemical oxidant to treat deeper contaminants will require additional planning and engineering.
“Design work for these portions of the cleanup, including some of the investigations needed to gather the necessary information, is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2016,” he said.