Feb 10, 2020 3 min read

Two years after the Redevelopment Authority of Washington County started the environmental remediation of a brownfield site in Washington, they’re still finding traces of contaminated material.

The redevelopment authority still plans to build a house where the former Salsberry Bump Shop, 443-445 Donnan Ave., sits. Before they can build, they have to have clearance from the state Department of Environmental Protection, according to Rob Phillips, assistant community development director for the redevelopment authority.

“That would give us permission to start building there – that the site is clean enough for residential use,” he said.

The auto shop burned to the ground after three juveniles set it on fire in 2009.

“We did a lot of work there after the fire,” said Councilman Joe Manning.

Manning said before it was a body shop, it was a car dealership, situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

“I remember that from when I was a kid,” he said. “It was the weirdest thing because the street was house, house, house, car dealership, then more houses.”

After the fire, the razed property sat for years, until the Salsberry family donated it to the Washington Citywide Development Corp. in 2016 in lieu of paying back taxes. The CDC engaged the redevelopment authority to conduct the remediation.

In January 2019, a hard rain resulted in the county’s hazardous materials team responding to the site for a petroleum-related sheen on C Avenue, an alleyway that’s down-grade from the site between Donnan and Duncan avenues. The team discovered an underground storage tank in a back corner of the property that hadn’t been tested.

“We didn’t anticipate having anything there,” Phillips said.

They excavated and removed the tank, but the DEP still wanted them to drill “monitoring wells” in the alley to “see if there was any trace of contaminants,” he said.

“Those wells showed a trace,” he said.

The DEP suggested the redevelopment authority approach property owners down-grade of the property to conduct testing for contaminants in their yards, but none of them were willing to participate.

Following a Monday conversation between Phillips and City Council members, the redevelopment authority plans to go beyond those houses into Duncan Avenue and drill monitoring wells there to check for contaminants and to “find where the limit of this thing is,” Phillips said.

“We’re confident that there is no concern at this point,” he said. “The parcel itself is clean.”

Phillips said the authority has invested about $150,000 into testing, consulting and remediation of the site to date, more than anticipated. They’re not giving up though, he said, adding that he believes they’re close to finally being able to rebuild the lot.

“We don’t want to just leave it vacant,” he said. “We’re committed to building a house there.”