beckett's blog: December 2011

Bioremediation Project:
As artists and environmentalists, we celebrate the beauty of the natural world and understand the necessity of its preservation. We see the need to move beyond simply drawing attention to environmental problems into focusing our creative energy on interdisciplinary problem solving. (see foot note 1.) Seeing ourselves as part of nature is a valuable perspective as we develop policies for sustainable living. The Arts and Science Lab will develop a model of human-sustainability based on our observations of nature's interconnected cycles. The project will benefit from “cross pollination” as it combines artistic vision, intuition and curiosity with the exploration and problem-solving methodology of the scientific perspective.

Product:
knowledge, experience and sustainable community revitalization. The project will bring together environmentally conscious people who have the wide spectrum of experience and the imagination required to rehabilitate the abandoned IMICO industrial site in Guelph 2. as a catalyst for community revitalization 3. using Bio-Remediation 4.

Method:
To deal with the various known toxins 6. the project will require a number of different remediation "biospheres" ranging from pond and wetland to forest floor and agricultural. How these biospheres are installed and interconnected will depend on the size, location and concentration of the toxic deposits. The installation will use the site’s topography as an element of functional landscape architecture. For example: watercourses will be established to distribute the contaminated ground-water to bio-accumulating plantings following the density separation of solvents. Existing concrete floors, foundations and asphalt roadways, when remediated, will provide aggregate for site development.

Economics:
We intend to demonstrate the cost savings and effectiveness of bioremediation as compared to current high carbon emitting methods of transporting soil to toxic waste dumps and/or incineration 4., 8. or handing the problem down to successive generations

Photovoltaics..."leapfrog"power:
If the installation of large tracking photovoltaic collectors proves to be a viable constituent, the project could be energy self-sufficient and to some degree, self funding. There are a number of benefits: The project could supply some of the cities growing clean power locally so the 50% line loss through transmission could be eliminated. The "green" power, would contribute to the cities goal to provide 25% of Guelph’s energy requirements using renewable sources within the next 15 years. The political pressure for a brownfield "quick fix" could be offset if the site becomes productive in energy and revenue while it is being bioremediated.

Green-tech “Incubator”
The innovative nature of the project will be used to attract the attention of environmentally conscious start-ups that can benefit from the proximity to the existing industrial zone. An “Art of Change” Design Center could showcase and market local innovation.

Multi-use Revitalization:
The Arts and Science Lab project intends to revitalize the live/work neighbourhood by adding green space as well as commercial and cultural activities. In the planning for integration and sustainability, energy use will be carefully considered. For example if the site’s art facilities were to include a glass shop and bronze foundry, their operation would be restricted to cold months and the residual heat would be used to heat adjacent buildings. A whole foods/grocery store and restaurant would be welcome additions to the neighborhood. Artist live/work and galley spaces would be architectural elements of a naturalizing landscape and would provide retail as well as cultural value.

The bio-remedation education centre:
The intention of the project, beyond cleaning up the site, is to develop a knowledge base that will have widespread application and commercial value. Walking trails will provide public access to the various biosphere installations as the site is transformed. An outdoor performance pavilion would add to the educational and cultural potential of the A&SL project.

Funding Potential:
In this "age of information" the bio-remediation research/ teaching center will have increasing value over the long term with innumerable commercial applications. An application for short term research funding has been granted by the University of Guelph. 7. As governments begin to see the benefit of low carbon solutions to our past mistakes, bioremediation expertise will become an increasingly valuable commodity (see "Pedagogy", footnote 7.) Since this project will have environmental, educational and economic benefits from the community level to the national and ultimately, global benefits, the project qualifies for funding through a wide range of agencies, both private and public.

References:
We have discussed the viability of this project with people from a variety of disciplines, organizations and the community. See a list below of committed participants to date. 5.

Office / Susan Detwiler: smdetwiler@hotmail.com 519 836 2534 18 Morris St. Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1E 5M2

Peter Beckett: peterbeckett11@gmail.com 519 826 4399

Beckett's Blog: beckettart.blogspot.com

Image: 1939 Ford Tractor, Niagara Escarpment Natural Area

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Foot Notes:

1. Arts and Science Lab project: The History

The A&SL project began as a collaboration between artist/ environmentalist/ educators Susan Detwiler and Peter Beckett.

"If "necessity is the mother of invention, " What are the other essential components? Are they not; recognizing a need, imagining a solution and, through your own skills and determination, bringing forth the answer? What could be more satisfying! Imaginative problem solving and creativity, surprisingly enough, are two of the key ingredients of such highly regarded endeavors as scientific research and development as well as entrepreneurship. Yet the parallels are seldom drawn. If the thought processes of artistic endeavor, alone or in combination with more linear (empirical) methods, can bring a quicker solution to any of our society's problems, then the value of art is immeasurable. Don't worry, art education is no more likely to produce artists than math education will produce mathematicians. They are both valuable introductions to different and complimentary learning styles. Art stimulates the imagination and through art, languages expand so that new insights may be shared. Art has been integral to the fabric of society since the beginnings of civilization. From the cave paintings of Lasceaux to the architectural monuments of ancient Greece; from the multidisciplinary achievements of characters like Leonardo and Michelangelo to whatever achievements that future generations deem significant from this age, it's all interwoven "excerpt from "The Reason of Art" P.B.

Peter Beckett, McMaster, Hons B.A., Art and Art History
The catalogue for his most recent exhibition, "Being the Biosphere" co-written with Susan Detwiler is posted on the blog: beckettart.blogspot.com
"Beckett inhabits the landscape in the deepest sense, aware of the innumerable processes that are the pulse of the Niagara Escarpment biosphere where he lives and works. His paintings evoke the totality of a living breathing landscape that shifts and evolves around him."

Susan Detwiler, B.F.A. Nova Scotia Collage of Art and Design, M.F.A University of Guelph, B.Ed, University of Windsor
"In my recent works, “Green Cleaning House” and “Freitheitsflob” I constructed floating shelter-like structures that incorporated planted gardens. “Freiheitsflob”, installed in a pond in the Darmstadt Forest in Germany, contained edible, medicinal and ornamental plants, to draw attention to the nutritional and healing powers in addition to the beauty of the natural environment. “Green Cleaning House” was constructed using brooms and mops, to draw attention to the need to clean up the surrounding water. It was installed, to float in Cootes Paradise in Hamilton, Ont., Canada."
Detwiler has been teaching; most recently at the Dundas Valley School of Art and the University of Guelph.

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2. IMICO The History
Brownfield Site: 200 Beverly St. Guelph, Ontario. (The 13 acre site is bounded by the Guelph Rail Junction on the north, Stevenson St. on the west and Beverly St. to the south.)
The International Malleable Iron Company opened its foundry on Beverley Street in 1912. The Guelph plant was a branch of the Illinois Malleable Iron Co, located in Chicago. IMICO was owned by the Carver family, who were originally from England, and for 75 years it remained in their possession.
IMICO specialized in producing malleable and cast iron pipe fittings. Products were shipped all over Canada, and throughout the British Commonwealth. During the earlier years, IMICO also produced castings for local agricultural and transportation industries.
The industrial site initially occupied 10 acres, and included a foundry and a machine shop. The foundry had two furnaces for melting air-refined malleable iron, as well as a cupola for grey iron. By 1927, the industry occupied 13 acres, employed 450 hands, and produced 6,000 tons of cast iron fittings and 3,000 tons of grey iron fittings per year. During the second world war IMICO produced munitions. In its peak years in the 1950’s, IMICO employed 575 people.
The foundry shut down in 1989 owing the city more than $1milion in unpaid property taxes, hydro payments and worker’s compensation premiums, plus a debt to the Bank of Montreal for another $million. IMICO also failed to clean the site of extensive pollution, preferring to leave the costs to community members. Creditor, BMO refused to take possession of the IMICO Site.

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3. The City Of Guelph's IMICO Property use study prepared by Barry Lyon Consultants 2003 names such use in their Preliminary Market Assessment Recommendations,i.e.
Light Intensity Business including
Artisan Workshops/Studios
Community Serving Uses: including
Art Centre,
Education and Training as well as
Live/Work Residential

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4. Bioremediation

Through natural processes, ancient plant and animal material buried within the sediment of the earth's crust have become the concentrated hydrocarbons that we extract as coal and oil. Since persistent organic pollutants, such as PCBs and DDT are composed by rearranging naturally occurring elements, certain natural environments have the ability to convert these toxic molecular arrangements back into their more benign constituents. The biological systems that decompose a fallen tree's lignin into soil for example will also break down complex persistent toxic hydrocarbons. The addition of wood compost is in effect bringing to the site a forest floor environment.
Successful studies of biological remediation of soil contaminated with crude oil (long chain hydrocarbons) involved the addition of a specific wood-chip and sawdust compost layer to support a biological system. Introducing microbial acclimated oyster mushroom spawn stimulated a cascade of activity by other organisms. A synergy between fungus, bacterium, plant and animal denatured the toxins in the adjacent substrate while turning the compost layer into nutrient rich soil. On-site bio remediation is less costly than soil removal and treatment. (US EPA, 2006) One study estimated a cost saving of 95% (“Mycelium Running,” Paul Stamets).

The natural aquatic environment also provides bioremediation possibilities re. metal. For example,"aquatic fern,(Azolla pinnata) was found to remove as much as 94% of Hg (mercury) from solution. Water hyacinth was found to accumulate Cr in it's shoots at 223 time the concentration in the water, and removed 84% of the Cr (chromium) and 95% of the Zn (zinc) from the water. While metals negatively affected the growth of the duck weed, (Lemna gibba), the plants were able to remove 90% of Cd (cadmium) from solution after 6 to 8 days" (Current Opinion in Biotechnology/Environmental 2010 pg1.)

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5. Supporting Associates:

Michelle Behar - Biochemist – McMaster
Seth Brouwers – B.Sc. Earth Science, MBET –Entrepreneurship & Technology
Kaj Devai – Architect
Jorgen Fleischer – P.Eng. Environmental Consultant
Neva Greig – Senior Research Technician - Plant Pathology, Agriculture Canada
Anna Kryzwdzinsky - Biotechnologist, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
Douglas Nadler --Musician/ Director: Georgian Triangle Earthday Celebration and Collingwood Music Festival
Michael Vertolli – Director Living Earth School

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6. The Toxicology of the IMICO Site in Guelph from 2 Reports:
1989 Proctor and RedFern
found elevated levels of cadmium chromium, molybdenum and zinc, PCBs on site 1990 Local residents/media concern about off site contamination led to study April 19,1990 Marius Marsh phytotoxicology section OME who reported on off site surface soil contamination in the vicinity.

Method:
0-5 cm depth samples from 12 samples in foundry vicinity
and 3 control sites removed from IMICO vicinity.
2 samples at 5-15 cm depth
Samples tested at Toronto Lab for chemical analysis

Test Results:

Copper under uln 50/100
Nickel under uln 12/60
Lead under uln 250/500
+Zinc up to 3x uln
Iron under uln
+Manganese up to 1200/700 uln
Aluminum 1800/no uln
Arsenic one elevated site 37/20
Barium one elevated 200/ no uln
+Cadmium one elevated site 6/4 uln
Chloride up to 12/no uln
Chromium up to 30/50 uln
Fluoride up to 260/ no uln
Mercury up to 260/500 uln
Sodium up to 220/no uln
Antimony up to uln 8/8
+Selenium up to 4.6/2 uln
Strontium up to 81/ no uln
Vanadium up to 46/70
Cobalt up to 12/25 uln
Molybdenum up to 1.6/3 uln
Beryllium up to 83/no uln

uln: upper limit of normal concentration in soil
+ : contaminant concentrations above desirable levels

Observations:
Cadmium and Selenium at site 8 result of storage rather than emissions.
Limited downwind concentrations at site 11 of antimony, barium, copper, chromium, lead, and mercury.

High levels of zinc cannot be attributed to IMICO

Fluoride levels increase around foundry- foundry sand produced across Stevenson St., SW of IMICO cited as possible source.
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IMICO, Guelph site
Soil and Ground Water
report: John Cooke

Deposits of contaminants that fall within section 18:
zinc in the soil 948 mg/kg to 2660 mg/kg. in 5 pits 4.5 m- 6m deep
in the southeast from galvanizing process.
decommissioning guidelines is 600 mg/kg

(Off site tests indicate high background levels of zinc in the area)

In one of these test pits, molybdenum was found at 60.1 mg/kg decommissioning guidelines recommend cleanup to 5 mg/kg for residential use of land or 40 mg/kg for commercial or industrial use. A test well in this area, shows groundwater contaminated with manganese at a level of 0.11 mg/l, which is more than twice the maximum desirable concentration of this substance in drinking water.
Residual soil and groundwater contamination from the former buried gasoline tank in the southeast portion of the property.

A sample of groundwater taken from OW4 at 3 metres below surface shows benzene, a carcinogenic component of gasoline, at 6.4 micrograms/litre
Soil and groundwater contamination from solvents and paint usage in the area of the former paint shop, near the north property boundary.
In test pit 12-1, xylene, ethylbenzene and toluene were found in the soil. In OW2, the groundwater contained toluene.
Corehole C-14, which was drilled inside the former paint shop shows oil and grease at 2.5 mg/kg, which exceeds the soil decommissioning guideline of 2 mg/kg. Xylene concentrations in this area exceed MENVIQ level B criteria by 1.8 times
Groundwater in OW 2, which is in this area, contains trichlorofluoromethane and toluene, although not in concentrations exceeding any standards or guidelines, as well as iron and manganese in concentrations that exceed drinking water.
Objectives
Soil contamination from improper oil storage practices at various locations about the exterior of the foundry building.
The I and J series of test pits contained oil and gas in concentrations of 2.65% and 8.9% respectively, both exceeding the guideline value of 2%.
Test pit LW23, by the zinc galvanizing area, north of the finishing and annealing area, and 12-1, adjacent to the paint shop, contained total petroleum hydrocarbons of 11,942 ppm, 3,984 ppm, and 3,712 ppm respectively. All exceeded the guideline value of 1,000 in the Ministry's guidelines for remediation of petroleum contaminated sites.
Residual PCB contamination on concrete floors at the former capacitor room: PCBs up to a maximum of 117,382 micrograms per square metre were found in this location. The guideline value is 1000 micrograms.

Samples from this core series also contained 393 mg/kg cobalt in the capacitor room (compared to the guideline value of 2 )
9950 mg/kg zinc in corehole C12 (compared to a guideline value of 80) total petroleum hydrocarbons of 6724% in corehole C6 (guideline value 1000).

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7. Detwiler application for research funding: University of Guelph

Statement of Goals and Plan of Scholarly Activity
Arts and Science Lab

As a contemporary visual artist and educator, I plan to use the fellowship for an intensive period of research that will extend my practice into public education. The project will increase awareness of the necessity of urban environmental clean up. The research will focus on the methodology of biological detoxification of a long abandoned contaminated industrial site.
See note1.
Goals: Research and establish necessary permissions and funding from various levels of government and educational institutions and to seek corporate sponsors.
Set up pilot project to test the effectiveness of variations in remediation.

Draft plans/ drawings for structures that will incorporate living agents into sculptural, architectural and installation based formats.
Establish and maintain small, interconnected ecosystems that utilize the most
effective bioremediation (mushrooms, bacterium, microbes, plants and invertebrates) to detoxify particular concentrations of contaminants.
Devise educational programming for local students, who will learn by touring the site and/or through their participation in aspects of the remediation.

Direct site use to maintain and enhance its function as an example of what is possible, through a coordinated interdisciplinary effort, to detoxify a site using bioremediation.
Coordinate interested professionals to work together in the planning and implementation of the project, establishing a network that will attract interest from environmentally conscious and interested community members.
Establish land use policies based on the neighborhood requirements.

“Green Cleaning House”

In my recent works, “Green Cleaning House” and “Freitheitsflob” (below) I constructed floating shelter-like structures that incorporated planted gardens. “Freiheitsflob”, installed in a pond in the Darmstadt Forest in Germany, contained edible, medicinal and ornamental plants, to draw attention to the nutritional and healing powers in addition to the beauty of the natural environment. “Green Cleaning House” was constructed using brooms and mops, to draw attention to the need to clean up the surrounding water. It was installed, to float in Cootes Paradise in Hamilton, Ont., Canada.
Since making these installations I have felt the need to act on my beliefs and to move beyond pointing at the problems, into providing solutions.

“Freitheitsflob”

As an artist/environmentalist I am interested in developing a mechanism to allow the arts and sciences to creatively recombine their knowledge towards a holistic approach to solving our urgent environmental problems. The University, having introduced interdisciplinary studies has begun to move in this direction. This project is a mechanism for putting theory into practice.

I have discussed the viability of this project with my friends from a variety of disciplines. Some are so excited by the idea, and eager to participate that they have begun to recruit people who might also get involved. I have included a list below of committed participants to date.
See note 2.

By bringing the Arts and Sciences together this project will create an outdoor living laboratory. The structures involved will support and draw attention to the various natural processes. In natural environments there is no waste, the by-product of one process is the food for the next. Once the initial structures are in place and the biospheres are established the site will begin to transform itself. Seeing ourselves as part of the natural environment is a valuable perspective as we develop policies for environmentally sustainable living.

To deal with the various known toxins the project will require a number of different biospheres ranging from ponds and wetland to forest floor and stream. How these biospheres are installed and interconnected will depend on the size and location of the toxic deposits. The installation will consider natural geomorphology in its construction as functional architecture. Rainwater collection and gravity distribution for irrigation for example may allow for imaginative functional kinetic structures to distribute the water between the simulated natural environments.

Pedagogy

This project will introduce an approach to interdisciplinary learning that is modeled on the interconnectedness of natural processes. It will bring together the knowledge, energy and experience of people from a wide range of backgrounds to collaborate and work toward solving a common dilemma.

The project will provide satisfaction to participants and encourage them to see new possibilities, and to participate in, or initiate similar, hands-on, co-operative, educational initiatives themselves.

The project will provide an example of an alternative method of problem solving with a wide range of possible applications. It will demonstrate to younger students the rewards of curiosity, both within and outside the classroom as well as the benefits of life-long learning.

Through interaction in a co-operative environment, both students and teachers will become more comfortable asking questions and sharing ideas. Teachers may rediscover the joy of learning so that it might be shared with their students.

The project will provide an opportunity for students predisposed to learning through experience, to experience satisfaction through learning. i.e. students with different learning styles may become engaged.

The project will provide an opportunity for teachers to develop new models
of experience based problem-solving that addresses the needs of teaching in our rapidly changing society.

The project provides a cycle of learning by linking research and the classroom, to a hands-on living laboratory where participants can interact with people with a wide range of experience and expertise. Problems encountered in the field will require a return to research, reflecting something of the interconnections found in natural cycles.

The project is a model for linking education, politics, art and community action.

Footnotes:--------

1.The former IMICO site (13 acres) is bounded by the Guelph Rail Junction on the north, Stevenson St. on the west and Beverly St. to the south.

2. Bio Remediation

Through natural processes, ancient plant and animal material buried within the sediment of the earth's crust have become the concentrated hydrocarbons that we extract as coal and oil. Since persistent organic pollutants, such as PCBs and DDT are composed by rearranging naturally occurring elements, certain natural environments have the ability to convert these toxic molecular arrangements back into their more benign constituents. The biological systems that decompose a fallen tree's lignin into soil for example will also break down complex persistent toxic hydrocarbons. The addition of wood compost is in effect bringing to the site a forest floor environment.
Successful studies of biological remediation of soil contaminated with crude oil (long chain hydrocarbons) involved the addition of a specific wood-chip and sawdust compost layer to support a biological system. Introducing microbial acclimated oyster mushroom spawn stimulated a cascade of activity by other organisms. A synergy between fungus, bacterium, plant and animal denatured the toxins in the adjacent substrate while turning the compost layer into nutrient rich soil. On-site bio remediation is less costly than soil removal and treatment. (US EPA, 2006) One study estimated a cost saving of 95% (“Mycelium Running,” Paul Stamets).
The natural aquatic environment also provides bio remediation /phyto remediation possibilities in the accumulation of metal, for example,"aquatic fern,(Azolla pinnata) was found to remove as much as 94% of Hg (mercury) from solution. Water hyacinth was found to accumulate Cr in it's shoots at 223 time the concentration in the water, and removed 84% of the Cr (chromium) and 95% of the Zn (zinc) from the water. While metals negatively affected the growth of the duck weed, (Lemna gibba), the plants were able to remove 90% of Cd (cadmium) from solution after 6 to 8 days" (Current Opinion in Biotechnology/Environmental 2010)

Footnote
3. Supporting Associates

Peter Beckett – Artist/Environmentalist –Art and Art History, McMaster
Michelle Behar - Biochemist – McMaster
Seth Brouwers – B.Sc. Earth Science, MBET –Entrepreneurship & Technology
Kaj Devai – Architect
Jorgen Fleischer – P.Eng. Environmental Consultant
Neva Greig – Senior Research Technician - Plant Pathology, Agriculture Canada
Anna Kryzwdzinsky - Biotechnologist, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
Douglas Nadler --Musician/ Director: Georgian Triangle Earthday Celebration
Georgia Simms-- MA Geography, Modern Dance Artist

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8. Local Press: conventional clean-up costs/ time-frames etc.

0. Tony Saxon Sat Aug 07 2010 Be the first to Comment 0 Recommend
More study recommended for former IMICO site as cleanup estimates climb

tsaxon@guelphmercury.com
GUELPH — Latest estimates put the cost of cleaning up the former IMICO site at between $4.4 million and $8.7 million.
That figure is only for the cleanup of the contaminated soil at the 13.5-acre location on Beverley Street. It does not include the cost of providing clean water to any future development or the more than $2 million the city has already spent to remove soil from the heavily contaminated site.
Soil contaminants have rendered most groundwater at the site unusable.
A city staff report going to council Monday recommends a “full scope risk assessment study” of the property. That would mean the site would continue in its current abandoned state until at least 2012.
“To sit and do nothing, and to say it’s not one of our priorities, is not acceptable. I’m a little upset,” Ward 1 Councillor Bob Bell said.
“I want something done. I’ve tried to move it up on the city’s priority list, but I guess it’s just not a very glamorous project.”
The former International Malleable Iron Company site has been owned by the city since 1997.
Six years ago, cleanup costs were tabbed at between $250,000 and $2.3 million.
The new study that is being recommended by staff will cost between $200,000 and $300,000, with $100,000 of that expected to be covered by federal grant money.
Jim Stokes, manager of realty services for the city, said all the reports done so far are cumulative and necessary to get to the end result.
“With a risk assessment, we’ll be looking at a variety of uses,” Stokes said of the new study being proposed. Those uses include residential, commercial and recreational.
“We’re not sure how much soil cleanup has to be done at this point. That’s the purpose of the risk assessment study — to limit the amount of soil that would have to be removed to make it workable,” Stokes said.
He said that after a risk assessment is done, the city will hopefully be able to take formal proposals for developing the contaminated site and everyone — including the city — will know what it is going to cost them to proceed with development.
The new staff report lists six parties that have expressed interest in the property since 2006. Three of those include building townhouses on the site, one would create a community park, one doesn’t indicate what use it would have and the sixth is from Family and Children’s Services, which would use five acres for new offices.
Stokes said the possibility of severing the property is also a possibility.
Lorraine Pagnan, who has watched the IMICO saga from her Ontario Street home since it began, said residents of the area just want to see something done.
“We’re still sitting here, in 2010, with a site that still needs to be dealt with,” said Pagnan, who has lived in the neighbourhood known as The Ward for 30 years.
“I don’t know how many more studies we have to do. It’s taken way too long. Something should have been done a long time ago.”
Monday’s report to council is based on information provided to the city about two years ago by consultants.
Stokes said the two-year delay in getting the report completed was due to a number of factors, including a heavy workload for his department and the creation of a new environmental engineer position. That person helped with the report.
“I’m not going to make excuses. My workload has been focused in other areas,” Stokes said.
The delay irks councillor Bell.
“This report could have been brought forward two years ago,” Bell said. “Staff had all the info. They just sit on it and leave it for the next council to fix it.”
City staff is also recommending the pursuit of additional government funds to help pay for further study and the cleanup of the site.

0. Scott Tracey, Mercury staff Fri Oct 08 2010 Be the first to Comment 0 Recommend
IMICo site has not been sold, as suggested during debate

GUELPH — While the City of Guelph would like to not own the former IMICo property on Stevenson Street, it has not been sold.
Viewers of a televised Ward 2 candidates debate this week heard otherwise.
Responding to a question about what should be done with the heavily-contaminated foundry lands, candidate Ray Ferraro suggested off-loading the property.
“We’ve got to get out of it,” Ferraro said. “Sell it for small business or factories.”
“It has been purchased,” incumbent Vicki Beard responded, adding she expects the owner to work with the city and local residents to shape the future of the 13-acre site.
Ferraro said in an interview Friday Beard’s revelation “was news to me.”
In fact, the property is still city-owned.
“If anyone was the slightest bit interested in buying it, I’d know,” said Ward 1 Coun. Bob Bell, who has identified remediation of the site as a top priority in his ward.
In August, the city’s finance committee voted to seek proposals from the private sector to redevelop the former International Malleable Iron Company site, which the city has owned for more than a decade.
The committee heard a consultant estimated soil remediation on the site will cost between $4.4 million and $8.7 million.
At the time, city realty manager Jim Stokes told the committee there had been several expressions of interest in the site, but when he began talking about the remediation required “those talks ended pretty abruptly.”
Bell said Friday the property can not be sold right now because it would cost more to clean it than it’s worth.
“You have to have a positive property value before anyone would be interested in buying it,” Bell said.
During the debate, several candidates expressed a desire to see housing on the site.
But Ferraro noted given the property’s location, along rail lines and adjacent other industrial uses, “why the hell would anyone build houses on it?”
Bell conceded using the IMICo site as a rail yard or similar use would require less remediation, but is not in the city’s interest.
“The rail yard use . . . is not a suitable use for the centre of town,” Bell said.
Beard could not be reached for comment Friday.

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