Residents want to stop partial demolition of Royster Clark site

Pat Schneider  —  10/28/2008 10:47 am

Residents of an east-side neighborhood want to stop the proposed partial demolition of an abandoned industrial site under state and city orders to clean up, because they fear letting the owner do the job halfway will raise the risk that ground water will be contaminated.

Canada-based Agrium, Inc. is asking the city of Madison to issue a demolition permit to remove only the buildings on the site of the former Royster Clark fertilizer plant at Cottage Grove and Dempsey roads. The foundations of buildings where fertilizer was produced and stored -- some including deep storage "pits" -- would remain under Agrium's proposal, although the concrete would be "cracked" to permit water drainage.

Members of the Royster-Clark Neighborhood Planning Team, who have been working with city officials to set redevelopment priorities for the 26-acre property that has been vacant since Agrium bought it in 2006, were critical Monday of the proposal for partial demolition.

"We don't want whatever hell is under that building to be infiltrated into the ground water," said Sheila Guilfoyle, chair of the Neighborhood Planning Team.

Michael Slavish, president of Hovde Realty, told the panel that his company is negotiating the possible purchase of the site for a mixed-use commercial and residential development. Talks have been on hold pending the city's ruling on a demolition permit, he said.

A public hearing on Agrium's permit request is scheduled Monday before the city's Plan Commission. City ordinances require an approved redevelopment plan before a demolition permit is issued, except when the buildings targeted for removal are a safety hazard. Demolition permits ordinarily require that all structures, above and below ground, be removed, any soil contaminants remediated, and the area re-graded and seeded, said city planner Michael Waidelich.

Representatives of two nearby neighborhoods associations, Lake Edge and Eastmorland, have written the Plan Commission expressing their fear that leaving "cracked" foundations will increase the risk of contaminants seeping down into the ground water. They urge planning officials to require Agrium to provide more detailed engineering studies to support their partial demolition plan or reject it.

In its application to the city, Agrium acknowledges that the main storage building on the site is unsafe, that there have been break-ins on the site, and criminal activity there. "By removing the buildings from the site we well eliminate a high risk safety hazard to persons in the area and a reason for persons to illegally access the site." What's more the buildings are a "major deterrent" to prospective buyers, Agrium company officials write in their Sept. 5 application.

Trespassers have been caught on the site, where buildings are a frequent target of graffitists, say city officials. A total of seven code violation citations have been brought against the building owners.

State officials have been monitoring the site for years: the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection for agrichemical (nitrogen) contamination; the Department of Natural Resources for petroleum contamination.

Agrium states in its application that removal of contaminants to the approval of the DNR will be part of any sales agreement, and that to ensure there is no new contamination, concrete currently on the site should remain. The company proposes, though, to crack the remaining concrete foundations to let rainwater drain into the ground and prevent the formation of pools of water.

DATCP hydrogeologist Richard Graham urged the city to reject any demolition plan that does not consider contaminants that may be present beneath the structure. "We are concerned that removal of the structure without addressing the concrete removal and subsequent cleanup of any contaminated soil beneath it could cause a significant groundwater impact," Graham wrote.

DNR hydrogelogist Wendell Wojner said Monday that his agency would be evaluating levels of airborne contaminants like asbestos, lead paint and fertilizer residue during demolition, but that he shared DATCP's concern over groundwater contamination.

A plan to remediate a petroleum spill on the site has been in place under DNR supervision for some 15 years.

Waidelich said the nitrogen contamination risked by demolition would be of groundwater that might eventually enter nearby streams and Lake Monona, not the city drinking water supply, which is drawn from wells drilled into deep groundwater supplies.

"This is a huge, huge, decision," said Ald. Larry Palm, who is asking the Plan Commission to delay a decision to allow the city and state regulatory agencies to get more information about the level of contamination at the plant and Agrium's plans.

Pat Schneider  —  10/28/2008 10:47 am