In 2012, the City of Astoria was awarded a $400,000 Brownfields Multipurpose Pilot Grant by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the Heritage Square site at the southeast corner of 11th and Duane Streets. The EPA awarded just ten pilot grants nationwide, one in each EPA region. Typically, EPA brownfield grants can be used to fund either investigation or cleanup, but not both. This unique pilot grant awarded to the City provides funding for both assessment and cleanup activities.
The Heritage Square site has been used for auto repair, dry cleaning, and printing activities dating back to the 1920s. A Safeway grocery store was built on the block in the 1940s, and was rebuilt in the 1950s. In 2003, Safeway relocated to another site, and the City acquired the Heritage Square block through a Community Development Incentive Fund Program grant and began to explore ways to reuse the site.
The City worked with an environmental consultant and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to collect soil and groundwater samples in 2003. Soil testing found petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals at elevated levels in soil. Groundwater testing identified two chlorinated solvent plumes beneath the site.
The Safeway building in the center of the Heritage Square block was demolished in 2005. In 2010 the ground surface over the Safeway building basement collapsed. The City secured the property, but it has remained idle since that time.
The City will use Brownfield Grant funds for soil and groundwater testing to gain a complete understanding of conditions at the site. Once conditions are fully understood, the City will use the funds for cleanup activities that may include the excavation and off-site disposal of soil and/or constructing a protective cap over soil that can be left in place.
Soil and groundwater samples will be collected from Heritage Square in Spring/Summer 2014. Additional information will be posted prior to beginning work. Sampling is expected to take less than one week, and will result in minimal disturbance to pedestrians, traffic, and parking areas adjacent to Heritage Square. Environmental cleanup activities, which may include soil removal and installation of a soil cap to isolate remaining low level contamination in soil, are planned for late 2014.
City Project Staff
Brett Estes
City Manager
(503) 338-5183
bestes@astoria.gov Jeff Harrington
City Engineer
(503) 338-5173
jharrington@astoria.gov
Project Consultant AMEC Environment & Infrastructure
John Kuiper
(503) 639-3400
john.kuiper@amecfw.com
LINKS
Garden of Surging Waves webpage: http://www.astoriachineseheritage.org/
Oregon DEQ Brownfields Program webpage: http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/brownfields/
US EPA Brownfields Program webpage: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
US EPA Project Webpage:
http://www.deq.state.or.us/Webdocs/Forms/Output/FPController.ashx?SourceId=4075&SourceIdType=11
PROJECT DOCUMENTS (will be uploaded as they are completed)
1/2003 Safeway Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
4/2003 Safeway Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
12/2003 Safeway Subsurface Report
12/2003 Safeway Tank Decommission Report
6/18/2012 Heritage Square Power Point Presentation
6/29/2012 DEQ Site Investigation Report
4/2014 Fact Sheet 1
4/17/2014 Public Involvement Plan
5/21/2014 Open House Presentation
5/21/2014 Open House Flyer: Environmental Assessment & Cleanup Heritage Square Project Update
5/25/2014 Quality Assurance Project Plan & Sampling and Analysis Plan
6/2014 Press Release - Heritage Square Site Investigation
9/18/2014 Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
9/21/2015 Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA)
10/13/2015 Public Service Announcement
10/13/2015 Open House Flyer
10/13/2015 Fact Sheet 2
10/13/2015 Heritage Square Power Point Presentation
12/23/2015 Heritage Square IRAM Work Plan
12/28/2015 Press Release - Environmental Assessment & Cleanup Heritage Square Project
1/29/2016 Cost Estimate, Revised 2016
2/1/2016 Heritage Square Proposal
2/3/2016 Astoria Development Commission Memo - EPA Grant Additional Funds Request #2
2/3/2016 Council Memo - EPA Grant Additional Funds Request #2
6/27/2016 Press Release - Groundwater Monitoring Well Work To Begin
3/6/2017 Soil Clean-up Report
