Pending EPA Permit Part of Waterstone Pitch For PEDA Parcel
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Part of the selling point for the new Walmart at the William Stanley Business Park is that it will ease an environmental regulation expected later this year.
Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a new draft permit for the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority's ability to drain storm water into Silver Lake. That permit called for significantly better water quality than currently being done.
PEDA and the city argued against it, saying it doesn't have the money to make the needed improvements to the storm water. Further, General Electric cleaned up the site to the standards outlined in the consent decree and the EPA signed off on the transfer of property from GE to PEDA.
Director Corydon Thurston said one suggestion made to EPA was to disconnect storm water from some 90 acres of city property coming through the PEDA site and redirect it to another outfall. That would limit the amount of water going through the system and increase the amount from the site being absorbed naturally.
Thurston said even if that happened, polychlorinated biphenyls, a toxic chemical that had been used by GE, would still be washing into the lake but wouldn't be measured. His thoughts are that it would be better to keep the water running through the PEDA land to ensure it is being tested more regularly.
"One of the solutions we had suggested if the EPA pushed this permit is that we'd require the city to disconnect from the PEDA system," Thurston said. "The closest system for them to connect to still goes into Silver Lake."
Thurston estimates doing that would cost the city upward of $1 million. And that still won't bring the system into compliance and Thurston believes it isn't possible to bring the water quality up to the levels on the draft permit.
The city itself has a new permit for its storm water, which David Webster, manager of the water permits branch of the Region 1 EPA, says doesn't require specific numbers of PCB levels but still has a number of requirements including testing to make sure nothing else is getting into the pipes.
There are a number of other requirements of the city as well, which in the recent budgeting process the city has prepared for by increasing its contractual services allowances for street cleaning and catch basin maintenance as well as a capital allocation to improve the entire system.
"Now Pittsfield has a clear idea what they have to do with the storm water," Webster said.
The commercial permit for PEDA, however, does have specific measurements. Thurston says many of the PCBs are coming from elsewhere in the city so that move would make an impact. But not by much because the highest concentration of PCBs remains on the 16-acre parcel known as the "teens."
Enter Waterstone Reality. The development company has been waiting years for a chance at the property. Waterstone says it will invest $6 million in renovating the foundation and storm water system.
"It's not the whole park but it is the largest portion of contaminated property," Thurston said. "A lot of manufacturing went on there. That area still is the largest concentration of PCBs."
Thurston said in that foundation is a series of brick and mortar pipes dating back years. Those have cracks and holes in which soil is infiltrating the system. PCBs travel through dirt, not water.
Thurston said any proposed development would have to renovate those pipes. Waterstone's plan includes installing a new storm-water system while increasing the areas for water to be absorbed naturally, instead of filling the basins and being washed into the lake.
Waterstone did not return a call in request for more details on the proposed work at the site but on a "fact sheet" issued on the company's Facebook page, it says $12 million of the $30 million project is going toward foundation work, which includes the $6 million for those storm-water pipes.
Thurston says that won't solve the entire problem, because the storm-water system goes through the entire PEDA land and not just that one parcel.
"Right now the way the water permit is issued, nothing would solve it," Thurston said. "Our intention is to show our best efforts to mitigate it."
Webster says the permit does have provisions allowing EPA to consider alternatives and not just stick to the stringent contamination levels. But, he said it is too early to tell what the final permit will say.
"It also asked if there was an alternative people would propose to isolate the PCBs," Webster said. "We could go in either direction."
Webster says the draft permit, which went through a public comment period including a time for stakeholders to submit written comments, complies with Clean Water Act of 1976, which was amended in 1987 — years before the consent decree was signed. Webster says the limits for PCBs are rather low.
Thurston says he doesn't know when a new permit will be issued. But, Webster says it could be in the next six months.
"We're considering the comments. It will probably be later in the calendar year for a final permit," Webster said.
The permit is needed for water to flow into the state-owned Silver Lake. That lake had just gone through a remediation process making it safe for swimming, but not for eating fish.
The debate over whether Walmart is the right business to locate on the William Stanley Business Park is expected to unfold. But no matter what happens, GE's history of that land will continue to haunt the city's efforts to develop it.
Tags: environmental impact, EPA, PCBs, PEDA, stormwater, Walmart,
