^
Yes, there was more contamination than originally presumed.
Was out there yesterday and they were working away to clean the soil.
Cool. Didn't realize that remediation continued whether or not they had a project for the land.
The property isn't very marketable with environmental issues. The price the Co-op people want for the land make it difficult to market because of the cost of cleanup. So, they are doing the cleanup to get the price they want. There were quite a few environmental issues with the site. But that is pretty common in the lower downtown area of OKC.
Very informative thank you
As soon as I hit submit, I started thinking back about that. Thank you for the clarification and sorry yukong for jumping the gun!
I seen a huge mountain of soil and a bulldozer scooping it up and loading in a dump truck yesterday. Wonder what they do with all that contaminated soil? I assume the mountain of soil is the contaminated stuff.
It reminded me of that show Gold Rush except No Gold in that Hill of soil.
I don't think soil remediation is much different than it was 25 years ago: Soil was taken to massive acreage where it is spread out in a thin layer and most contamination is removed by natural sunlight and wind over a few days. Then it is mixed with "virgin" soil and reintroduced into the eco system.
Depending on the type of contamination, it may be taken to a hazardous waste landfill and buried...or if the contamination is of an unstable nature, then some sort of aggregate is mixed with the soil to stabilize it, then it is taken to a hazardous waste landfill. There are different types of hazardous waste landfills...depending on the substances. We have several landfills that probably can take this soil...and then we have one major hazardous waste site..Lone Mountain up in the Gloss Mountains. We have none that can take radioactive waste. That goes out of state.
From the documents I have seen on this site, it is most likely just a dig and haul. Then they will bring in fresh topsoil and cover it. Most likely, once that is done, any residential structures will require vapor intrusion mitigation systems. As well as institutional controls on digging. The condos north from the Civic Center had similar issues...they did a dig and haul...installed vapor mitigation systems in the units, and there are restrictions on how deep you can dig. Plus no ground water use at all.
I learned something new today.
When they built Devon, they had a lot of soil mediation. I watched thew construction from my office and couldn't figure out why they kept taking all the dirt out only to replace it later. All the construction management guys were in my building so I finally asked one of them
That is a standard remediation procedure when you have contaminated soil. Excavate the top few to several feet (depending on the amount of contamination) then bring in clean fill. State law then requires deed notices with restrictions on what can then be done at the site regarding digging, trenching, etc. And usually there are prohibitions on use of groundwater. At the Co-op site...I noticed Sunday evening that it looked like they have excavated down several feet in some areas. Evidencing the soil contamination was higher then first thought.
Seems like there could be a lot of potential to do walkability either well or completely screwed up between the Park and Convention Center area and any new development here.
The parking garage that Devon demoed to build the tower was on the site of the former streetcar garage/maintenance facility. During excavation for piles and basement space they encountered partially full petroleum product tanks (fuel/oil/waste oil) that were abandoned in place prior to modern regulations. The garage was simply built over the buried tanks. The tanks leaked. Larry Nichols lauded the the ODEQ response to the discovery, including efforts to minimize the delay of construction.
I found this OKCtalk site while looking for more information about a news item regarding the Producers Coop locomotive in the Loconotes column of the February issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine. For those of you interested in that locomotive, it has been since at least November 2018, and currently is, listed for sale on sterlingrail.com for $75,000 with a make an offer option.
Regarding the previous discussion in this thread about moving the locomotive, it is noted in the Sterling listing that the locomotive has friction bearings. This makes it virtually impossible to move the locomotive on its own wheels on any of the seven Class 1 railroads. To move it by rail, it would have to have roller bearing trucks exchanged for the friction bearing trucks or it would have to be hauled on a flat car. Also, presuming it does not have alignment control draft gear, that issue would have to be dealt with before it could be moved on its own wheels.
Disclaimer - I have no employment nor financial relationship with Sterling Rail Inc. I only reference it as a source of information.
Nice pic Pete - man this really shows how underdeveloped the canal sides are in lower Bricktown. Wish we could start over.. Also though I think it would be a slam dunk idea to extend the canal through Producers Coop and get the design right in that area, then this would seem more like a docile park between two dense areas of the canal.
.
A MAPS 4 one & a half-mile Bricktown Canal extension thru the Coop Mill parcel to the convention center complex would allow for more development along the canal and enhance the convention center complex.
Are there any elevation or Coop Mill development obstacles that would prevent an extension?
This is quite a large area with only three access roads in and out of the area. If this area is developed with the intention of high traffic, I would hope to see some dramatic improvements made to help connect in all directions. This could become a nightmare during large events.
Also, being located in an opportunity zone, this appears to be quite an "opportunity" for investors!
I would like to see a 2 lane bridge over I-40 connecting to that land along the river which should eventually be redeveloped.
The 3 access roads however should be enough. Other options can and should include pedestrian and bike access, rail, and an extended canal can all help move people in and out of this area which should be more than sufficient.
There are currently 15 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 15 guests)
Bookmarks