Why is the Estuary Park site safer to develop as open space than as housing?
The land owned by Dutra, Fox/Wright, and Collins has been used for industrial purposes for decades. Part of the land was badly polluted by a creosote plant. Preliminary studies suggest the pollution is dangerous to health, especially to the health of anyone who might live on it.
The first indication of pollution problems were discovered by an environmental study commissioned by Stewart Gruendl, an architect for BayRock, originally developers of the Dutra and Fox/Wright property [now they are only concerned with Dutra land]. The study was conducted by the San Joaquin Company which made it’s first report on June 17, 2002 in a paper titled, “Preliminary Geotechnical Investigation, 2199 and 2229 Clement Ave, Alameda, CA.” The study concluded the land was so badly contaminated that it would have to be cleaned by “...an extensive dig and dump operation going below the ground water level and refilling and compacting the soils every 9 inches.”
The danger can be removed by removing the contaminated soil. Probably the removal will be deep and the soil would then be replaced by fill. Massive soil replacement is required for housing because the risk of contamination is high for residents.
The San Joaquin Company’s study estimated that fill may be unstable in an earthquake, and could liquefy in an intense shake. Similar soils led to the collapse of the Cyprus freeway structure on I-880 and severe damage in San Francisco’s Marina district during the 1988 Loma Prieta earthquake.
The
San Francisco Chronicle reported on August 14, 2002 that recent
maps published by the California State Department of Conservation show
that a significant portion of Alameda County “...could be affected
by landslides and liquefaction during an earthquake of 6.0 or greater
magnitude. Liquefaction is a term used to describe areas of water-saturated
soil that may become unstable during earthquakes...” Extensive
and deep fill necessary to clean up the Dutra, Fox/Wright, and Colllins
properties might be the kind of ground hazard referred to in the S.F.
Chronicle article at
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/08/14/MNquakes.DTL
Pollution reduction and removal is called remediation. It’s less difficult to remediate park space because not so much soil must be replaced. The action of turf and properly selected vegetation can continue cleanup of organic toxins. This type of remediation is far less expensive than replacing the ground soil, though it takes some time. Advocates for open space on the Beltline railroad property in Alameda are studying this natural aid to pollution cleanup. For more information, contact:
Jean Sweeney,
Chair
Alameda Open Space
Phone: (510) 522-1579
Email: jean_sweeney@juno.com
A park area is also cheaper to clean since less cleanup is required to protect people who visit there only occasionally. They would have much less exposure to any toxins than people who would live there.
A park is also easier to safeguard against earthquakes because it won’t include the kind of structures that would be at risk.