Councilman Marc Mantini (right) and Council President Carol Fenyes (left) discuss cleanup of riverfront property in Ford City Borough at last night’s public meeting.
Ford City Council discussed clean-up operations of their riverfront property located across from the Borough Garage.
“That property looks deplorable,” Council President Carol Fenyes said. “It needs to be cleaned up. We approached DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) with the request to use our dump to clean that area off and dump the materials over there. It is mostly dirt and product of the sewer separation, cement, and other materials.”
Fenyes said DEP told her the dirt and materials would have to be tested to insure there were no contaminants in the soil. If it passes the test, then the dirt would be trucked to the Ford City Dump and disposed of there.
The soil would be tested for 23 different contaminants including Cyanide, Beryllium, Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Silver, Tin, Pesticides, and Volatile Organics. The cost to perform the test by Microbac would be $1,309.25.
Fenyes said she wants to see recycling trailers moved to an alternate location.
“We need to make it not only look pleasing from the trail, but as you look back through there, it is cleaner than it is now and a much better display of Ford City.”
Councilman Tyson Klukan said there are concrete culverts on the property as well, who wasn’t sure if the Borough owns them or they are the responsibility of the sewage authority. He also said he would like to see the recycling trailers moved to a gravel lot behind the water plant on the hill.
“As the BC3 project moves forward, we are going to be changing the landscape due to site development,” Klukan said. “That property gives Ford City access to the Allegheny River. I physically walked down a slight grade, went through some brush and trees, but you can get down to the river. With just some excavation work, you could have a small boat of kayak launch area there.”
Ford City, who is planning final approval soon of their new zoning map, will be marketing the property for consideration by developers.
Both Fenyes and Klukan said increased parking along 3rd Avenue would also be considered.
Councilman Marc Mantini said that it would take “dump trucks hauling 20-ton each” to remove the debris. Councilwoman-Elect Vicki Schaub said she would speak to some of the local haulers to see if they would consider hauling it at no charge as a service to the Borough.
“There is more dirt than what the Borough workers are capable of moving and hauling,” Fenyes said.
Once the soil has been cleared through testing, Klukan said another option would be to sell the soil as “clean fill”.
“We are required to do the testing on the soil to put into our dump based on a municipality fill law. We will need to test it to get permission by DEP to use our dump,” said Councilwoman Beth Bowser.
After the discussion, Council gave their approval to Microbac of Pittsburgh to do the soil testing.