Saturday, June 25, 2011

Lee Place Brownfield Meeting Thursday

Remediation of a former dry cleaning site on Lee Place will be the topic at a city public meeting Thursday.

The hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Washington Community School on findings of a brownfields study and future plans for the site. The site is described in this US EPA Lee Place fact sheet. Plans call for removal of dry cleaning chemicals and construction of two affordable homes. According to a legal notice published Saturday, the draft analysis documents are available for review at City Hall, 515 Watchung Ave.

Courier News reporter Mark Spivey reported on the proposed cleanup in January 2010 here.

This news reminded Plaintalker that the city had a number of brownfield grants that were being monitored by April Stefel of the Planning Division before she was laid off last year. Stefel told the City Council before her layoff that the grants totaled $5.6 million and monitoring them took half of her 63 part-time hours per month. This is one of those "whatever happened to ...?" items of city government that needs an update. Perhaps the council's Economic Development Committee can put it on their list of topics to check on. Plaintalker will also attempt to get an update, although there is no department head to ask about it.

--Bernice

3 comments:

  1. Pat Turner KavanaughJune 26, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    Bernice: there is a brownfields site on Leland Avenue at that old farm hands' house the county owns. I telephoned the DEP number on the sign, and was told by the DEP person she had no idea what the hazard was - I'd have to call the contractor the DEP hired to do the job. Any idea what the problem is on Leland Avenue, or how i can find out? thank you

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  2. There should be someone in Planning who has a record of the site, even if the remediation is being outsourced.

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  3. Just try to get a sewer record anymore, might as well build your own system.

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