By Brian Slattery | The Brunswick Beacon | November 13, 2018
NAVASSA — While there is still work to be done to prepare the Navassa Superfund site for redevelopment, town officials learned Nov. 8 they could start work on rezoning the location to insure the development they want comes there.
Environmental Protection Agency project manager Erik Spalvin and Richard Elliott, project manager for the Multistate Environmental Response Trust, two of three groups heading up the Navassa Superfund site cleanup process with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, explain the site isn’t ready for cleanup yet, but it is far enough along to market to developers with an interest in the town.
Superfund site officials said they are still testing 368 soil samples and 53 monitoring wells, but a clear idea of what could be used for new development is coming into focus.
From the 1930s to the 1970s, a creosote wood-treatment plant was run on the 250-acre site east of Navassa which is bordered on the west side by Navassa Road, by Sturgeon Creek to the south and the Brunswick River to the east.
Town board members and residents attending the meeting were told there are 100 acres on the east side of the property that could be kept out of the superfund site cleanup.
No creosote was found there, said Richard Elliott, project manager for the Multistate Environmental Response Trust, one of three groups heading up the cleanup process.
The Multistate Trust, the Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) are working to determine cleanup options for the site.
Part of the 100 acres runs along the Brunswick River and includes state-controlled wetlands, but it can still be permitted for some uses.
A 50-acre site in the northwest corner of the property along Navassa Road is considered marketable, with some cleanup work needed.
“More acres out of the superfund site area is better for development. There they can dig eight feet down to put in utilities,” EPA project manager Erik Spalvin said.
There is also a 90-acre section of the property in the southwest corner of the site where most of the creosote processing was handled that would require much more remediation.
“The superfund cleanup site will be about 90 acres once we put it on the superfund list,” Spalvin said
Superfund site officials told the audience the northwest corner cleanup could be completed in the next two years.
But that site, along with the 100 acres they don’t intend to include in the superfund cleanup, could be marketed to developers sooner. In their experience, they said, they have reached a point where, if developers are interested in the site, they can start marketing it and talking to developers.
“We can market it before we’re finished to developers,” Spalvin said.
“We have sold the property to new owners before," Elliott added.
Elliott also said they had reached a point where town council needs to figure out the zoning requirements they want to allow or restrict the type of development.
In April, the Superfund representatives created four versions of community vision maps based on ideas residents shared during workshops Feb. 23-24 to show what they want done on the property.
The western edge of the property that could be marketed was proposed for use for commercial property and some light industry. The rest of the property concepts include more park space, a cultural heritage site and a walking trail including elevated walkways to Sturgeon Creek and the Brunswick River.
The concepts left the southwest corner of the property undeveloped except for park and open space.
Elliott said they are anticipating a feasibility study for cleanup of areas where treated and untreated wood was stored could be complete by the end of the year.
Spalvin said a record of decision could also be complete at the start of the New Year.
Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp., the last owner of the plant, shut it down in 1980, but creosote and sludge were left on the site, which entered the marshes adjacent to the waterways that flow into the Cape Fear River.
Read the entire article at https://www.brunswickbeacon.com/content/navassa-superfund-site-already-marketable.