10-29-07 Item 7C, Env Characterization Contractor for TCAAP Property

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Duluth Brownfields Assessment Project City of Duluth Economic Development Authority. Duluth, Minnesota . Multiple Phase I property assessments . Multiple Phase II site investigations . Development of a response action plan . Grant application assistance . Public-relations assistance Services provided: In 2002, the city of Duluth won a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) brownfields- assessment-demonstration pilot grant to assess potential redevelopment properties. Duluth hired Barr in 2003 to help plan and implement brownfields property assessments. The initial work involved forming a brownfields advisory board. After meeting with city staff and the advisory board, a listing of over 50 potential properties was developed. BaiT then inquired with each property owner to identify those willing to have us perform Phase I property assessments. Seven properties were selected for the Phase I assessments, ranging in size from i to 22 acres, including an old abandoned railway corridor, a fonner railyard area, an abandoned waterfront propClty, and an old manufacturing operations. Barr presented the results oflhe Phase I assessments to the advisory board and city staff. Working with city staff and the advisory board, Barr ranked the assessment properties by criteria such as development potential, tax base improvement, environmental concerns, and implementability. The ranking helped prioritize the properties to investigate first using the remaining grant funds. The board selected four top-ranked properties for Phase II investigations. After developing work plans for the investigations that both the city and the USEPA reviewed and approved, Barr implemented the investigative work and wrote reports with recommendations. The Phase lIs used a range of investigation methods including the collection of shallow surface samples, geoprobe borings, and test excavations using a backhoe. Immediately following the Phase II investigations, a buyer purchased one of the propelties, a former concrete burial vault manufacturing facility. As a final task under the USEPA's pilot grant, Barr prepared a development response-action plan for this location. The buyer, a manufacturer of a proprietary composite-skate-park system, then hired Barr to provide remediation oversight. Both redevelopment and remedial work arc currently wrapping up and operations will soon begin at the facility. [n 2005, Barr helped Duluth win an additional $400,000 in brown fields-assessment grants from the USEP A. The grant funds are helping continue the work begun under the pilot grant and are allowing for new assessment and redevelopment work in the western and central-commercial-corridor portions of Duluth. Work under the 2005 assessment grant began in October 2006, and Barr has completed evaluations of more than 18 properties for potential eligibility under the EPA's criteria. Five Phase I assessments have been completed so far. Phase II investigation work plans have been prepared for four parcels and one investigation has been completed. The investigation work has included working with the EP A and the Barr Engineering Company