4060 Hollis Street
BY ALBA MORA // Emeryville City Council wants to build a new community art center. But first, they have to clean up the proposed site to protect landscapers and construction workers from health risks associated with exposure to contaminated soil.
At a public meeting on October 20 at Emeryville City Hall, an environmental consultant hired by the city presented a draft of the proposed clean-up plan of the former United Stamping Building at 4060 Hollis Street. The proposal includes a step-by-step description of the decontamination process as well as a timeline for completion.
“We’ll set up a fence and move the bus stop to the west. We’ll have a green fabric along the fence so that no dust is getting outside during the excavation,” said Kris M. Larson, from Ninyo & Moore, the geotechnical and environmental sciences consultants.
Truck's route.
Though no date for the cleanup effort has been set, Ignacio Dayrit, the community economic development coordinator of Emeryville, says the project will likely begin in January or February 2009.
Dayrit says the $70,000 project will be funded partly under a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleanup grant and by the City of Emeryville.
Clean-up will focus on the open space along 40th Street. The trees along the sidewalk will be kept intact. Trucks will pick up contaminated soil for one or two days. Afterward workers will fill the space with clean soil and begin landscaping.
“The site clean-up might take about a week in total,” said Larson. Neighbors might hear noise during the excavation days and trucks will be lined up on Hollis Street.
The objective of the clean-up is to reduce the concentration of chemicals and metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and vanadium in the soil.
Hazardous soil and waste will be transported to a landfill in Kettleman City, Calif. Trucks going to the landfill will head west on 40th Street and drive away from residential areas.
Public comment on the proposed cleanup plan is open until November 6, 2008.
The complete draft for the site clean-up can be downloaded here.
