Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Remediation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Revere presents PCB, cadmium cleanup and waterfront upgrades for Gibson Park Phase 2
Summary
City staff and the project team presented a Notice of Intent to remediate PCBs and cadmium at the former Boatworks (29th Thayer Ave) and add waterfront access features including an elevated boathouse, boardwalk and seasonal floating dock; remediation and initial oversight are funded, while construction remains contingent on grants and permits.
City staff on behalf of Revere presented a Notice of Intent for Gibson Park Phase 2 at the former Boatworks property on 29th Thayer Ave, outlining a remediation-first approach and later public-access improvements, project leads said.
"We're here to present a notice of intent for Gibson Park phase 2," said Elle Baker, the city's open-space environmental planner, introducing the presentation. Claire (wetland scientist with LEC Environmental Consultants) told the commission that sampling identified elevated PCBs and cadmium that exceed state cleanup thresholds and include a smaller federal-level PCB hot spot requiring EPA-standard remediation. "They exceed the thresholds to be cleaned up in accordance with the Massachusetts contingency plan," the scientist said.
The project team described the contaminated area as roughly 28,800 square feet with a ~90-square-foot federal hot spot; reportable contamination extended about 1.5 feet below the surface and will be excavated and disposed of off-site. The city has retained a licensed site professional (LSP), EKI, to oversee sampling and cleanup. Projected earthwork includes importing about 3,000 cubic yards of clean material to backfill excavated areas.
Planned site improvements after remediation include a 27-space gravel parking area with three ADA spaces, an elevated boathouse placed on piers (base floor elevation 15.4, about 5.4 feet above the 100-year flood elevation), an elevated timber boardwalk along the shoreline, a fixed pier and a seasonal floating dock removed in the off-season. The floating dock design was modified to address a Division of Marine Fisheries comment requiring about 2.5 feet of clearance from the substrate; anchors for the float will be helical anchors about 6 inches in diameter.
The team said the project will reduce impervious area by about 19,890 square feet, propose 29 new native trees (a net increase of about 25 trees after removing four), and incorporate bioswales, rain gardens and subsurface treatment units that will tie into the phase 1 manhole and discharge point. The proposal was framed to comply with coastal-dune and coastal-beach standards and to meet Chapter 91 requirements for work in tidelands; presenters noted a procedural timing issue that a Chapter 91 license cannot be issued until after an order of conditions is recorded.
Commissioners asked technical questions about on-site stockpiling and covering of contaminated soil, the use of helical piles for piers, the elevation of new boardwalk and building features relative to King Tides, and whether oil/water separators or other measures are needed for the proposed gravel parking. The presenters said the remediation plan (RAM) and any required EPA self-implementing plan will be submitted to MassDEP, and the team offered to provide the commission records of the RAM/EPA plan and cleanup results as a special condition. Baker said the city has funding in place for the LSP and the remediation step; funding for building and development elements is pending grant decisions.
The hearing was not closed; the commission and project team agreed the item will continue at a future meeting to allow permitting follow-up and to receive any additional documentation requested by the commission.
