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Parks board approves access, property-restoration agreements for soil cleanup at 129 East Riverside
Summary
The Evansville Board of Parks Commissioners approved two agreements allowing testing and remediation of contaminated soil at a city-owned lot at 129 East Riverside as part of the Jacobsville neighborhood cleanup by EPA-funded teams.
The Board of Parks Commissioners on May 21 approved two agreements allowing outside contractors to test and, if necessary, remove and replace contaminated soil at a city-owned lot at 129 East Riverside as part of a larger Jacobsville-area remediation project.
Deputy Director Paul Bozeman said the property is a former home site owned by the parks department and that the work would be performed using federal Superfund-related funds at no cost to the department. "This is definitely a helpful thing because it takes the liability of the lead contamination away from the parks department," Bozeman said.
Board members were told the approvals cover two documents: an access agreement and a "Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil Contamination Superfund Site Property Restoration" agreement that would authorize testing and property restoration work. The restoration agreement identifies properties with lead concentrations higher than 1,200 and arsenic concentrations higher than 68 as candidates for remediation, according to the materials presented to the board. The transcript did not specify units for those concentration figures.
A board member asked whether the work tests for long-lasting contaminants commonly called "forever chemicals." Bozeman said he did not know whether this particular parcel would be tested for those chemicals, but he said that if such contaminants were present they would be removed along with lead-contaminated soil under the restoration approach described.
The motion on both agreements carried after a voice vote. One board member asked whether the parks department would receive a report after the work is completed; Bozeman said staff could request a report if it is not provided automatically.
The board’s action authorizes testing and, if required by the testing results, excavation (removal of contaminated soil) and replacement with clean fill under the terms of the two agreements. The board did not set a specific remediation schedule during the meeting.
The approvals link the parks department property at 129 East Riverside to the multi-year Jacobsville cleanup effort targeting contaminated parcels in central Evansville.
Questions raised during the discussion focused on contaminants to be tested and the documentation of results rather than on funding or whether the department would incur costs.
