Without ESA North River Project Is Highly Risky!

The North River Project proposed property should go through a formal Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) review before this project moves one step further. Without doing so puts hard earned tax dollars at risk and the city facing a multimillion dollar cleanup on it's on.

Many residents have given hundreds of their own time and money to come up with an interesting use concept for the property. These good citizens don't deserve having their time wasted because of paid professionals within the City of Fort Wayne did not perform. Shame on our so called city leaders who led these people along knowing very well the environmental nightmare that might be laying just below the surface.

The ESA conducted under the standards written by ASTM (Formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) has been accepted by all levels of government and the courts across this country. There are many certified companies that can carry out these investigations who have been doing such for years. This would not be something new to Fort Wayne as many a property have had formal ESA reviews completed prior to the sale of said property.

Phase 1 - In this phase the collection of information and observations of the property are collected. This study generally details what environmental issues the property may well face based on its prior use and from what they learned from other parts of the investigation. It spells out, based on the study, if a Phase 2 study should be conducted.

The Phase 1 investigation generally takes from a few weeks to a couple of months to complete depending on the selected testing company's schedule. The length of the schedule may be extended as research information is learned.

The cost of this phase range from $2,000 - $10,000. After the report is supplied the City can elect to purchase the property as is, walk away from the purchase of the property or request a Phase 2 study.

Phase 2 - This phase collects original samples of soil, groundwater, and building materials. The soil samples may include borings to sample subsurface soils. The materials will be tested for various contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, solvents, asbestos and other items learned by the
Phase 1 review.

This phase can take from a month to several months to complete for several reasons. The required number of samples, method of obtaining the samples, and actual testing methods are all factors in reaching the completion date.

The costs vary widely depending on number of samples, method of obtaining the samples, and tests methods that may be needed. A discussion with the company that performs Phase 1 could provide ballpark figures as to the overall cost.

After receiving this report the city can decide to purchase the property as is, work with the current owner on price reduction, walk away from the purchase, or seek a Phase 3 review completed.

Phase 3 - The investigation looks at what it will take to clean up the property based on Phase 2 results. It looks at alternative cleanup methods, rough estimates of costs, and logistics of the cleanup. It details the steps to perform the site cleanup and what, if any is required, follow up monitoring of the site.

After receiving this report the city can decide to purchase the property as is, work with the current owner on cleanup, or walk away from the purchase.