Contaminated ash found at Niagara Falls housing site
Contaminated ash found at Niagara Falls housing site
Falls authority pledges Center Court work will comply with requirements for soil
By Denise Jewell Gee - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 07/22/08 9:18 AM
NIAGARA FALLS — Soil tests at a former park scheduled to be redeveloped as a public housing complex show the land near Centre Avenue contains up to 10 feet of contaminated incinerator ash in some areas, Niagara Falls Housing Authority representatives said Monday.
The ash — believed to be from a 1930s incinerator in the North End — contains contaminants that exceed levels allowed by the state in residential areas, said Linda Goodman, director of project development for Norstar Development USA.
Plans call for using the park and other land west of the Center Court housing complex as the site of the first phase of a $72 million project to replace Center Court with 282 mixed-income housing units under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI housing rehabilitation program.
Because of the new test results, the developer has extended its soils management plan to cover the entire 22-acre site of the first phase, Goodman said.
Under the plan, contaminated ash and soil up to 2 feet deep will be removed and replaced with 2 feet of clean soil.
Once the apartments are built, digging on the site will be restricted, Goodman said.
The soils management plan initially was limited to a strip of land south of Centre Avenue where earlier environmental tests showed elevated levels of arsenic near a former railroad yard.
But tests completed last week showed a “significant amount of incinerator ash under a layer of surface soil” in areas north of Centre Avenue, Stephanie W. Cowart, the Housing Authority executive director, wrote in a letter to The Buffalo News.
“We are doing everything we’re supposed to do,” Cowart wrote. “We are following industry and government standards on all environmental procedures for HOPE VI.”
Soils that have tested above acceptable limits set by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will either “be covered with hard surfaces such as roads, buildings driveways or sidewalks, capped with 2 feet of suitable soils; or removed from the area entirely according to [state Department of Environmental Conservation] standards,” Cowart wrote.
Goodman did not identify what contaminants were found in the ash.
Work is under way on foundations and buildings in areas not affected by the recent soil testing and “poses no health risk to those who live in the area,” Cowart wrote.
James J. Devald, Niagara County director of environmental health, said he had not received the report on the recent soil tests.
Mayor Paul A. Dyster said the city received the report Monday morning and city staff members were reviewing the results.
“It’s going to take a while to get through this and digest it,” Dyster said.
Plans call for rebuilding public infrastructure in the neighborhood and constructing 115 rental units during the first phase of the HOPE VI project.
Goodman said Norstar and the Housing Authority were reviewing the impact of the soil management plan on the project budget.
“It is going to add to the budget cost,” Goodman said. “We’re still getting estimates on that.”
The project’s financing partners — which include private investors, the city, the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal and HUD — have been given copies of environmental reports, Cowart wrote.
“In the long run, all of us are fortunate that we discovered this problem when we did,” Cowart wrote. “Revitalization of industrial cities, such as Niagara Falls, mandates the clean up of what others left behind decades ago.”
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DEC should go through their archives for past contaminations in the site. I'm sure there are people in Niagara Falls who know exactly what's under there. If there are 10 feet of contaminated "ash", why is DEC only allowing 2 feet to be removed? It would be nice for a change if we can just clean up all the contamination and not just part of it for once.
Who bought the land for the HUD project and who sold it to them?
We keep ending up with the bill for the cleanup! Regulations important? I think so. Those who feel regulations hinder business, do you want the culperate to pay the price of pollution or do you want to pay from our taxpayer money later?
This area will be coveted in the next 50 years, don't ruin it by doing a half ass job. We have 90% of our nations fresh water supply, black gold soil, and great people, do it right the first time.
Censoring scientific analysis
Censorship anyone? I have neve seen so much blackouts and cross-offs and comments in a scientific study by ASTDR. Why do we need backup of old files? This is why. Locations crossed off, exposures crossed off, and so forth and so on. It is really disgusting!
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/grtlakes/pd...PeerReview.pdf
Suspicious soil stalls housing project
Suspicious soil stalls housing project
By Thomas J. Prohaska - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 08/08/08 6:49 AM
LOCKPORT — More soil sampling is needed on the site of a giant public housing project in Niagara Falls, it was decided during a meeting here Thursday.
Niagara County Environmental Health Director James J. Devald said, after the 2z-hour meeting with a consulting firm hired by the developer, that construction on the portion of the site affected by findings of hazardous waste cannot resume for one to two weeks, depending on the test results.
Devald and representatives of Panamerican Environmental of Cheektowaga, the consultants chosen by Norstar Development USA, agreed that more samples will be taken as soon as this weekend on the site of the HOPE VI housing project.
The Niagara Falls Housing Authority hired Norstar to develop the massive project, which in full form is to include 282 housing units costing a total of $72 million.
However, last month Norstar disclosed that environmental investigations at the site discovered a 10-foot layer of ash in the Center Court park, apparently left over from a 1930s municipal incinerator that once operated at the site.
“We all agreed the project is on hold based on the need for more soil samplings,” Devald said after Thursday’s meeting.
He said the tests, which take about five days to run, will look for arsenic, mercury and lead. Norstar’s July report showed mercury levels more than 50 times higher than those considered safe in state environmental regulations.
A state Health Department letter last week complained that Panamerican and Norstar seemed to be “trying to use the best comparison numbers to minimize the problems at the site.”
These tactics, state Public Health Specialist Matthew J. Forcucci wrote, constitute “a course of action that will lead to long-term exposure potentials to documented hazardous waste that will be difficult to correct in the future and may subject the property owner to future liabilities.”
Peter Gorton, a Panamerican staffer who took part in Thursday’s meeting, declined to comment on its outcome because the Housing Authority and Norstar had not given him permission to speak.
Stephanie W. Cowart, executive director of the Housing Authority, declined to comment until a statement is released today. Norstar executive Linda Goodman could not be reached late Thursday.
tprohaska@buffnews.com
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3 properties they are testing is not enough. I suggest you go further and check with DEC to identify what happend in the past before any decison is made. Saying it was ash from 1930's muncipal waste is not sufficient. Many things were burned, landfilled, and the testing must be done to protect the children and the valnerable.
Where are our representatives?
Money from the FED is hard to come by these days with the way this administration. Louise Slaughter and Shumer must get involved to serve our community. The Mayor should be doing this. I hope the eyese are open and observing.
