THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110452
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 83 lines
The city's old municipal landfill, once thought unsuitable for plants and trees, is now deemed safe for use by people.
While nothing is final - or paid for - city officials who have been studying health and environmental risks plan eventually to turn the 114-acre dump site, which briefly housed an arboretum, into a public park.
``Virginia Beach did it at Mount Trashmore,'' said Public Works Director John A. O'Connor, referring to the city park off Route 44 that sits atop another former landfill.
``Our landfill is right in the middle of Great Bridge,'' he said. ``It ought to be used for something. It's on our wish list as a park.''
The city arboretum's members, which began developing the landfill in 1990, were evicted in less than a year when officials discovered that the digging was penetrating the dump's waterproof clay barrier about a foot beneath the soil. A fence has been blocking the public from the site since then.
With more careful consideration, the city is trying again to use the land. Chesapeake officials began the process by rezoning part of the property off Albemarle Drive from its office and institutional classification to a conservation one. That guarantees that no office or housing development will be built.
It also ``reduces future concerns'' of state and federal watchdogs who look out for development that could pose health or environmental threats, O'Connor said.
Still of concern to the officials are the traces of hazardous waste usually found in former landfills from discarded household products such as cleaners, nail polish remover and paint. However, tests on the Chesapeake landfill when it closed in 1985 show it is not contaminated enough to warrant listing on the federal Superfund priorities list, said Hal Yates of the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office in Philadelphia.
That list is composed of the nation's most-toxic waste sites, and inclusion requires creation of a formal cleanup plan paid for by its polluters - a designation that often leads to lengthy and costly legal battles that slow local governments' plans to reuse land.
The state Department of Environmental Quality will continue to monitor, among other indicators, water taken from wells at the landfill to ensure polluted ground water isn't migrating. Spokeswoman Erica Dameron said the department approves of the park idea, and, although the state now has jurisdiction, officials in Richmond asked EPA to study the site again.
``As far as human health is concerned, they said there is no risk,'' Dameron said. ``The ecological assessment isn't back yet, but they don't think there will be a problem.''
The city decided on a park partially because other development that involves a lot of digging or driving could be difficult. Planning could allow for some landscaping and buildings, but any structures would have to be elevated and fitted with special vents to avoid trapping the methane gas that is naturally produced from the buried waste. Venting pipes now line the land.
A wooden bridge also may be required over wetlands included in the park.
Further, other access roads would be needed. The only one now is behind the Tidewater Juvenile Detention Home.
Once the barriers are addressed and the city allocates money, the Parks and Recreation Department will develop a plan, said Judy N. Alexander, a recreation superintendent. For now, officials envision jogging trails and benches, she said.
``Any time we can develop an area for citizens to use, we like to be able to do that,'' Alexander said. ``We haven't sat down and looked at that site in any detail. We haven't looked at any cost factors. We just thought about what we might like to do in the future.''
City officials say they want to provide the public with more parks, and Alexander said two sites recently have been purchased - 225 acres in Deep Creek and 153 acres in Hickory. Chesapeake has 12 parks and boat ramps. The largest, Northwest River Park is 763 acres.
If the whole 114-acre landfill site is developed, it would be among the largest parks in the city, Alexander said.
``It's a nice piece of property,'' she said. ``It was a landfill so a lot of it is kind of barren, open space. But there are some trees and shrubs and a view of water.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by STEVE EARLY/The Virginian-Pilot
A fence has blocked Chesapeake's old city landfill, located off
Albemarle Drive in Great Bridge, since it was determined that
digging to plant trees threatened the waterproof clay barrier.
KEYWORDS: LANDFILL MUNICIPAL LANDFILL PUBLIC PARK by CNB