Since developers took a bulldozer to a pair of abandoned sewer tanks last fall, there hasn’t been much visible progress at the city’s southern waterfront development. But the Common Council this week polished off the last of its behind-the-scenes work for the development’s second phase, and officials hope to have some shovels in the ground by next year.
“We’re clearing another hurdle,” said Councilman Gary Bashor (R-Ward 8). “This project is moving forward, even though a lot of people don’t realize it.”
At a special meeting Monday, the council approved the findings of its environmental review on the DeLaval property, an 11.4-acre parcel of contaminated former industrial property along Rinaldi Boulevard.
City Corporation Counsel Steve Wing said Monday’s approval was the final legal hurdle to clear before the city could begin cleaning up the soil contamination at the site, caused by years of heavy industrial use.
Once that work is complete, the city plans to lease the property to the Bonura family for the second phase of a four-part development project. Work on the first phase, a restaurant planned at the site of a former sewage treatment plant just north of DeLaval, began last fall.
Plans for the entire waterfront project call for a mix of commercial and recreational uses, including a restaurant and catering facility, a marina, a hotel, offices, and a shopping center.
At issue in the latest environmental review was the impact of exchanging the 11.4-acre DeLaval property for other parkland of equal or greater value. That exchange is necessary because the city purchased the DeLaval property in 1968 with a grant from the state, intending to convert the polluted former industrial property into a waterfront park. Those plans never materialized.
City officials have proposed to improve or designate a series of waterfront and non-waterfront parcels to take the place of DeLaval, nearly eight acres in all. Those parcels include three-and-a-half acres between Waryas Park and Kaal Rock Park, which include the stony bluff that gives the latter park its name; a strip of waterfront property along the former sewage treatment plant site; and a half-acre that sits on Pine Street east of DeLaval, adjacent to a planned condominium development on Columbia Street.
The exchange would also include improvements to the existing Kaal Rock Park, as well as the designation of three-and-a-half acres of the developed DeLaval project for recreational use.
“The time for study has finally passed,” Wing said. “It’s all action now.”
On that note, the Council approved findings on the environmental review, which stated generally that the benefits outweighed the negatives for the parkland exchange, and that all negative impacts would be mitigated to the fullest extent possible.
Wing said the combined new parkland is actually greater in value than the DeLaval property, based on the city’s review, and any negative impacts of the exchange were “far outweighed” by the benefits of developing the waterfront for public use.
The council then took its first action under its findings, approving a $700,000 bond for further work at the site, including a new water line, an archaeological study and the city’s portion of the environmental restoration work, 90 percent of which is reimbursable by the state.
The total cost for cleanup is estimated at $7.86 million.
Review followed lawsuit
The council undertook its latest environmental review, which was actually a supplement to its previous review of the entire southern waterfront development project, after environmental group Riverkeeper, an independent waterfront preservation group based in Garrison, forced its hand with a lawsuit last October.
In a settlement agreement reached in February, the city agreed to conduct further reviews and hold a series of public hearings on the parkland exchange, which was approved by the state last year.
On Monday, Mayor Nancy Cozean said she was pleased the city didn’t allow that lawsuit to tie up the waterfront project. “It didn’t stop the process,” she said. “And any questions have been fully and practically addressed … The process has continued. I think that’s really important.”
Wing said the city’s purpose for conducting the additional review was not just to answer the lawsuit, but also to participate in the state-mandated environmental review process to the fullest extent.
He added it would be in the city’s best interest to “continue a dialogue with Riverkeeper” as the waterfront project progresses, to ensure the final result is the best project possible.