Columbia council hears detailed plan to remove buried fill, stabilize soil at McGinnis Innovation Park

Columbia Borough Council on Feb. 25 received a technical update on remediation and site‑preparation work at the former McGinnis Innovation Park property, where consultants said they have obtained the necessary NPDES permit, drafted bid documents for Phase 1 soil stabilization and expect contractor work to take about three to four months once a bidder starts.

The briefing matters because the work — removing buried fill, addressing organics and contaminated material, and creating a uniformly compacted subsurface — is intended to make the site buildable for future commercial uses and increase the borough’s tax base. Council and residents debated who will pay for remediation, whether the borough should draw on an $8 million BIOS loan and how neighbors will be notified before heavy equipment arrives.

Jason Best, a consultant with ELA, told council the team’s immediate focus is “getting that soil stabilization ready for some future development, whatever that could be.” He said geotechnical borings and surveying are complete, a subdivision plan has been recorded, and the borough received the NPDES permit in January. Best and other consultants described Phase 1 as a contractor‑led effort to strip fill, sift and recompact acceptable material in lifts, chip and remove organics as needed, and restore a vegetative cover and runoff patterns at completion.

Derek, an engineer on the project team from CS Davidson, described how the work excludes low, unfilled drainage areas and the quarry at the southern end: the team plans to focus remediation on the filled runway and adjacent areas. “We want this to be a blank canvas,” Derek said, adding that the center two‑thirds of the runway are suitable for building after stabilization but the outer ends likely will be left at a lower level of stabilization because the cost to make them building pads would be high.

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