GUILDERLAND — Will what is left of the Army depot become a town park"

Supervisor Kenneth Runion told The Enterprise this week that he met last Thursday with representatives of the federal government's property disposal division and concluded, "We may be on a course to use that property as a park. It will add a different dimension to our park system."

Runion envisions the three ponds on the 36 acres on Depot Road being stocked with fish for catch-and-release fishing; the paved pathways, already with lighting, used for evening strolls or Rollerblading; and the adjacent wetlands used as a wildlife refuge.
"I’m getting ready to send them a letter of intent, expressing our interest," said Runion. He said the federal government’s process of disposing of the property would take about a year as would the town of Guilderland's review process for such a project.

The largest hurdle to the park project may be cleanup.

The idea of making the remaining federal land into a town park was broached about a year ago by Thadeus Ausfeld who co-chairs the Army Corps of Engineers’ Restoration Advisory Board, charged with advising on the cleanup of the depot.

Ausfeld maintained that industrial development on the site would disturb the soil; the town, he said, would be in a better position to prevent any danger to residents if it acquired the land from the federal government and made it into a park.

Runion was supportive, too, when The Enterprise asked him about the park idea last December.
"It would be more in conformance with our comprehensive plan than industrial use," Runion said at the time. He said he would like the town to secure the land to develop for recreational use, which he said is important for the quality of life in a community.

Contaminated soil

The depot, built in the 1940’s, once covered 650 acres in Guilderland and New Scotland; most of the rest has been sold to the Northeastern Industrial Park. The 35.5 acres on Route 201, Depot Road, have been used to store strategic defense materials such as aluminum, copper, lead, and zinc, which have contaminated the soil.

The site has been designated an Area of Concern, meaning it poses a threat to human health.

A report prepared several years ago by Parsons Engineering Science Inc. shows soils at all test locations at the stockpile site exceeded state soil criteria.

Thirty of the 95 cases where soil contamination exceeded more than twice background range were clustered in the northern half of the property, which is the side closer to Guilderland Center.

This summer, The Enterprise toured the site with three federal officials.

The fenced stockpile site has a circular roadway; materials had been stored inside the loop. Outside of the roadway — an area that accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of the 36 acres — no materials had been stored, the officials said.

Retention ponds were built in the outlying areas three years ago to control stormwater runoff, which could potentially contain contaminated soils, said Kevin Reilly, director of environmental management and safety for the Defense National Stockpile Center. Last December, Reilly said mud from the retention ponds would have to be removed to clean the site.
Reilly said this summer that the site has "elevated levels of lead, copper, zinc, and chromium," but he also said, "We have to do what's sensible and cost effective...The numbers I see in the soil are not devastatingly high...Twice background doesn’t necessarily make it bad."
Reilly also said, "Soil removal sounds unattainable." He explained that, in addition to the cost of removing the soil, since the land would then be lower, new soil to cover acres would have to be trucked in to replace it.
Cleaning the site to a level suitable for park use would be very expensive, said Reilly this summer. "They’re talking about a child sitting in the sand, eating dirt," he said. "It sets up a worst-case scenario for risk assessment...Think of the money taxpayers would have to pay."
Asked the approximate cost, Reilly replied, "It could be a phenomenal number."

This week, Reilly told The Enterprise that he was pleased to hear Guilderland’s supervisor was interested in making the site into a park. He said a year to do the transfer was optimistic but added, "I think it’s nice to have a goal to work towards."
"I’ve not had the chance to sit down with the state of New York and Department of Health to know what plan would help us get there," he said. "Obviously we’ll have to do additional sampling."

He said the samples would be of water.
Asked about what he had earlier called the "phenomenal" cost of shipping out contaminated soils, Reilly said, "A lot of times, cover works, putting soil on top of it....You wouldn’t be able to grow grass there without soil anyway."
He went on, "We may be able to scrape up some of the stuff and put it in a mound and only cover the mound."
About the cost of clean-up, Reilly said, "How much will be the feds and how much will be the town remains to be decided...Basically, it comes down to a question of how clean is clean."
He said the retention ponds would definitely stay; they will not be drained and dried with the mud shipped out. The ponds are useful, Reilly said, in cleaning off-site pollutants, such as road salt. He did say, "It may take additional dredging to clean out the bottom stuff; there may be future pond maintenance."

Currently, he said, the stockpile center is working with New York State to see if it still needs to maintain a SPEDES (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit.

Cleanup will take place under the supervision of the state's departments of health and environmental conservation.

Gabrielle Done, a spokesperson with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, told The Enterprise in August that the standard to which the site is cleaned will depend on its future use.
Soils at the site have been contaminated with copper, chromium, lead, and zinc, she said. "Groundwater off-site does not appear to have been impacted," Done said.
She said of the DEC, "We’ll work to insure remediation is completely protective of human health and the environment."
Asked if this would involve removing the contaminated soil, Done said, "There needs to be more investigation. The final cleanup will depend on the end use."

The closing of the local center reflects a change in national defense strategy. Depots are being phased out throughout the country and the Defense National Stockpile Center, which used to oversee 100 locations, will itself be phased out by 2007, the federal officials said.
"Since the Cold War is over," said Reilly this summer, "we’re using the world market to meet our needs."

In August, only ferrochrome — an alloy forged of chromium and iron, used in making stainless steel — remained at the stockpile center in Guilderland.

The ferrochrome is still there, Dennis Wesolowski, distribution facilities manager for the Defense National Stockpile Center, told The Enterprise this week. He had said this summer that, if the ferrochrome wasn’t sold, it would be moved to a nearby stockpile center in Scotia.
Wesolowski, who was at last Thursday’s meeting with Runion, said, "I’ve been a facilitator." But he stressed that the Defense National Stockpile Center was a " tenant" at the depot — the 36 acres belong to the federal General Services Administration. He referred The Enterprise to Justin Hollander at the GSA.

Hollander, who attended last Thursday’s meeting, declined comment, referring The Enterprise to the GSA’s public affairs department, which was unable to answer questions before deadline.

No radiation leaks

The Enterprise this week asked Runion if he were concerned about toxins left on the site. "They’ll be going through that with the Department of Environmental Conservation," he said. "Part of the process is checking the retention ponds to see what’s there."
He also said, "It’s my understanding that the stockpile materials were all in barrels and there were no fuels or combustible materials stored on site."

While ores, such as the tons of ferrochrome The Enterprise observed this summer, were stored at the site without being in containers, radioactive materials stored there were contained in drums, according to both Reilly and Peter Sneed, with the General Services Administration.

From 1988 to 1990, low-level radioactive materials (columbium/tantalum) were stored in 55-gallon drums at the site, which were since removed. At that time, the agency had a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"There had been low-level radiation material stored there," Sneed told The Enterprise earlier. "There were no leakages. It wasn’t a problem."

Runion’s plans

Runion described the process which the town would use to acquire the 36 acres for a park.

After the Defense National Stockpile Center tells the federal government it no longer has a use for the property, it is offered to other federal agencies, Runion said.
"There’s not a good likelihood they would want it," he said. "It’s then offered to HUD," he said of Housing and Urban Development, "to see if it would work for a homeless shelter."

That use, too, is unlikely, Runion said, because of its location near an industrial park and because it’s not on a bus route.
It’s then offered to local governments, he said. "Basically, the town would own it for a dollar if it is to be used as a park or a wildlife preserve."

Runion would like to see the 36 acres used as a combination of the two.
"Parks and recreational facilities are the cornerstone of developing a quality community," said Runion. "Guilderland has been very progressive on recreational activities for all its residents."

The town already offers a swimming pool, a climbing barn, gardens, hiking and skiing trails, ice-skating, sledding slopes, and playing fields in its parks.

During Runion’s tenure, the town has added a golf course and more soccer and baseball fields as well as a dog park.

The Depot Road property would add fishing, Runion said, as well as paved pathways for Rollerblading, and lighted areas for evening recreation.
There would be other benefits as well, Runion said. "They’ve done decent work with outfalls for drainage that we can build on and improve," he said.
Runion also referred to wetlands in the area and working with the owners of the Northeastern Industrial Park. "People here say we ought to get into a dialogue with the Galesi Group," said Runion. "They have no use for wetlands...We could use them for wildlife and a model for education."