Toxic past haunts Hogans Creek's future

[Hypocrite]

Interesting article on Jacksonville.com


http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-02-22/story/toxic_past_haunts_hogans_creek%E2%80%99s_future

Jacksonville’s Confederate Park and other land along Hogans Creek could become a Superfund pollution cleanup site, training federal attention on century-old contamination downtown.

Although that could eventually solve a problem deferred for many years, in the short term it complicates efforts of neighbors and city officials, who want to restore the creek’s role as an amenity linking Springfield to the central business district.

“We wouldn’t invest a great deal of money in a city property that we would then have to dig up and remediate,” said Misty Skipper, an aide to Mayor John Peyton.

The mayor mentioned planning for a Hogans Creek greenway during a talk last month about positioning the city for economic recovery by using available resources. That plan is expected to be ready in late March, Skipper said.

The city will keep trying to make other parts of the creek more attractive and useful, she said, but it could delay projects near the park until pollution issues are settled.

The Superfund label would put the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in charge of deciding how to repair environmental damage around a site east of Main Street, where coal was converted into natural gas, starting in the 19th century.

The ground there contains coal tar, a cancer-causing material thought to have contaminated ground water entering the creek.

The full extent of the pollution isn’t clear. The affected area includes vacant commercial buildings south of the creek and part of the park on the creek’s north bank.

Water in the creek could pose a means for people to come into contact with the pollution, but walking through the park is safe, said Mike Fitzsimmons,  an administrator with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

EPA could end up helping finance some work at the site, although responsibility for repaying costs will fall back on owners of the property, including Jacksonville’s taxpayers.

“We’ve got an extensive area of contamination,” said Brian Dougherty, another state environmental administrator. “We’re talking a multimillion-dollar cleanup here. So having EPA able to step in and hopefully provide some funding for it is really a benefit.”

Coal tar pollution has been identified in that area since at least 1993, when a city-financed study for a stormwater project reported contamination in soil and in sediment in the creek. That report recommended the city’s lawyers be brought into planning for handling that contamination.

Skipper said it wasn’t clear Friday whether that had happened 17 years ago.

People interested in the creek have been encouraged by recent talk about a greenway, said Jennifer Holbrook, a Springfield resident who said she was “delighted” by the city’s current efforts to blend ideas from government agencies, neighborhood interests and others.

But tapping the waterway’s potential has been difficult before, she said.

“I think part of that comes from the [Confederate] park … the inability to do anything with it, in part because of contamination,” she said.

“Different departments have worked on it at different times and they have never coordinated their efforts. And now it’s been left in this deteriorating state for so long that it’s a white elephant. I think everybody is afraid to see what the real cost is going to be.”

It’s not clear yet exactly how far the coal-tar pollution reaches, Dougherty said, and it’s far too early to decide the cost and means of handling the site.

The EPA usually proposes new sites for the Superfund program’s National Priorities List twice a year, in the spring and fall, Dougherty said. The next proposals will be made in March, but EPA’s review of Confederate Park probably won’t be ready then, said Barbara Alfano, an EPA project manager.

The state agency supports putting the site on the Superfund list, and is writing a brief to that effect, Dougherty said.

The area known to have some contamination straddles the creek, reaching southward to the closed and deteriorating Park View Inn off State Street, Dougherty said.

The owners don’t expect EPA action to affect that site very much, though, said Robert Van Winkel, vice president of Park View Inns  Inc. He said the hotel is expected to be demolished within months, and the owners want to build a three-story parking garage with ground-level retail space.

Skipper said greenway plans the city is developing represent just a first step in addressing the creek’s needs. She said a longer-term process of restoring the waterway’s environmental health will take years longer, but that there’s no cost or timetable yet for either.

However the EPA handles the site, Skipper said, “the end result is going to be the same, which is that at some point, the contamination is going to have to be remediated.”

[thelakelander]

The owners don’t expect EPA action to affect that site very much, though, said Robert Van Winkel, vice president of Park View Inns  Inc. He said the hotel is expected to be demolished within months, and the owners want to build a three-story parking garage with ground-level retail space.

Interesting.  I think this has been mentioned somewhere on this site before.  What is everyone's opinion on this?

[Livein32206]

I certainly want to see that eyesore taken down. I'm curious as to what kind of retail the owner's looking at or for, without knowing that, it's difficult to really voice an opinion.

[Miss Fixit]

Thrilled to hear the Park View might be coming down in the next few months.  If properly designed the parking garage with street level retail would be an asset.  I know some plans have been floated around that contemplate green space in that area but if preserving the Claude Nolan building is a goal then that green space would be isolated from the park anyway.

[chris farley]

Take the Pilot Club Evergreen Cemetery Tour in April, there will be a very interesting story told  of that part of the creek.  Just East of Main is where the fire crossed.

[thelakelander]

I know some plans have been floated around that contemplate green space in that area but if preserving the Claude Nolan building is a goal then that green space would be isolated from the park anyway.

Purchasing and then turning that spot into green space would be pretty foolish to say the least.  Its probably the most visible commercial corner in the urban core.  Retail will work there before it could anywhere else on Main and it would be a nice gateway and help bridge the gap between DT and Springfield.

[sheclown]

any kind of retail at that place would be an improvement --

I agree with Lake.  Let's get people shopping there.

[Miss Fixit]

It would be idiotic to make the park view green space at this point.

It would make a pretty beautiful spot for a law college though.

Satellite campus for Florida Coastal?  Site's too small for full on college of law.

[strider]

The real shame is that this was not successfully converted into lofts with retail space as once intended.  I know the market doesn't support the residential, but retail and a parking garage only is not the best use of this space.  It would also seem that the contamination on this site is not as bad as some indicated, as building new still sounds like an option.  My fear is that the old gets torn down and the new never gets built. Green space by default.

I do wonder if some people had campaigned to get this building redone as hard as they have to get it torn down, would it be done already?

[cline]

I'm pretty sure FCSL originally wanted to move somewhere downtown.  Unfortunately, the City dropped the ball and they moved into their new location on Baymeadows.  I don't see them moving downtown at this point.

[fsu813]

"My fear is that the old gets torn down and the new never gets built. Green space by default."

- green space by default is pretty good default scenario.

[Dan B]

It would also seem that the contamination on this site is not as bad as some indicated

As this is no doubt aimed at me, do you have anything to back that up, because the DEP report indicates the site is pretty contaminated.

[Dan B]

Your right. Its all a figment of my imagination based on a personal grudge I have against a person I have never met beyond a few conversations on the phone. It has nothing to do with the info I learned while working on trying get the creek and parks cleaned up.

From DEP report released in 2008





Interesting note at the end about the foundation remaining in place, and the sub-basement being filled with concrete.

Sounds like a perfectly clean site. Maybe we should open a daycare there.

[strider]

First of all, Dan, no, it wasn't aimed at you, you didn’t even pop into my head when I posted it. and Second, this indicates a fear that contaminated ground water may get into the building and also other controls on the adjacent property.  It sounds like, yes, there is contamination, and yes, it can be controlled and will be controlled by the methods described. If the controls are in place, then yes, a day care could be there without an issue.

Perhaps if you posted the entire study, people could see what is really being said.

Meanwhile, yes, we need another dirt filled parking lot in the urban core, so just tear the place down and let it sit.  No, let’s at least try to make sure the site is actually used for something worthwhile. 

[Dan B]

There is no back hand admission. This site is contaminated. You said it wasn't, I said it was. The report agrees with me.

Its very big of you to give the site a pass because you identify with its owner, who, btw, has never been accused of causing the contamination.

This report covers the Park View site, and its future use. NOT creek or park cleanup, which is my primary concern, and always has been.