EDC 06-18-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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EDC Meeting Notes June 18,2013 Page 3 The Council recognized the efforts of the EDC in providing feedback on the initial concepts (last year) and in reviewing the proposed business terms in March and May of this year. Staff is also appreciative of the EDC's assistance. We'll continue to keep the EDC apprised of the progress made on both of these exciting projects. B. Update on MPCA Discussions Background In 2008-2009 the City conducted a remediation effort to close the former Miller dump and prepare the area for future development. The City had previously acquired most of the land in the 1980s from John and Wanda Miller and used it for a driving range. Over the years, a great deal of study was completed with MPCA approval to assess the potential remediation and redevelopment of this area. Due to the significant volume of garbage (estimated at 600,000— 1,000,000 cubic yards; Barr, 2004)the most cost effective approach to support future development was to leave much of the dump material in place; remove garbage from around the western periphery of the site (i.e. to make more land developable) and consolidate excess dump material on Block B. Following that, the dump was capped with a clean soil cover that included a membrane and passive venting system to control landfill gas (which continues to be generated from the dump materials), from migrating outside of the dump. See the attached exhibits which show the location of the project and a cross-section profile of site conditions before and after the City's dump closure project. The City's remediation effort was outlined in a formal Response Action Plan (RAP) that was approved by the MPCA in May 2008. The City subsequently applied for and received$4.0M of grant funding from DEED and Met Council to help fund the dump closure. To date,the City has spent $7.2M on the dump closure project, completing a great deal of work to position the site for redevelopment. However,there is still some work remaining to support future redevelopment. For example,the City is required to own and maintain the soil gas collection system and monitor methane levels at the dump (details described below). In addition, a membrane cap was not installed on Block B since it will need to be designed and installed as part of future development. As each site develops on the east side, future users will be expected to work with MPCA to address landfill gas intrusion concerns, which will involve sub-slab venting and monitoring systems for all future buildings. This may allow future users to obtain certain environmental liability assurances from the agency. On-going Methane Monitoring at the Dump As part of the approved RAP and following the dump closure project,the City installed a series of vapor monitoring wells around the perimeter of the site. These wells are intended to monitor the migration of vapors below the ground surface (especially methane)that are generated by the