Press release from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
RALEIGH – State officials have signed an agreement that will allow a company to safely transform a former industrial landfill into a large sports complex with greenways and ballfields in Asheville.
Officials with the state environmental agency signed a brownfields agreement with Enka Partners LLC, Thursday for the 41-acre site on Sand Hill Road in Asheville.
A brownfields agreement allows companies to redevelop properties that may have been underused or abandoned because of previous environmental contamination. The prospective developer did not cause or contribute to the contamination, but is able to redevelop the property after agreeing to carry out state-required actions to make the property safe for the proposed reuse.
The state hosted a 30-day public comment period in the fall, as required by law, and then held a meeting in Asheville on Feb. 4 after the project generated a significant amount of public interest.
“After hearing from the Asheville community, we have worked out an agreement that will allow Enka Partners to transform this property into a safe and productive area for public recreation,” said Michael Scott, with the state environmental department.
Enka Partners intends to convert the land into a recreational area with greenways, concessions, a parking area and multiple ballfields where the Asheville community can host youth sports tournaments. Enka Partners projects that the construction and operation of the sports complex will generate about 100 jobs. The corporation also estimates that when the sports complex is complete, it will pump as much as $5 million a year into the local economy as people who visit the area for tournaments occupy hotels, shop, and dine at local restaurants.
BASF Corporation used to operate an industrial landfill at the site, which sat next to its former plant. The landfill, which was used to store construction waste, fly ash and other wastes, was closed a decade ago. The latest environmental monitoring data has shown no evidence of any metals in surface water exceeding state standards. As a safety measure, Enka Partners is required in the agreement to conduct ongoing tests of surface water and alert the state if any changes arise. Even if Enka Partners meets the conditions in the agreement, the company will not be allowed to proceed with the sports complex until all plans have been certified by an independent, licensed North Carolina professional engineer and environmental specialists in the state brownfields program.
To protect public health, the state has signed the agreement on the condition that Enka Partners:
- Keep a safe soil cover, at least 2 feet thick, over any waste in the landfill during redevelopment.
- Maintain the structural integrity of the landfill and its environmental monitoring systems. The company will be responsible for ensuring that a groundwater monitoring network surrounding the former landfill is maintained and monitored during redevelopment and in the years afterwards.
- Conduct ongoing environmental monitoring at the site and notify the state of any changes detected during routine air or water quality monitoring at the site. Changes to surface water, groundwater quality or landfill gas can lead to the reopening of the brownfields agreement so any changes can be promptly addressed.
The agreement and other relevant documents are at: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/brownfields-program/news-items.
Similar redevelopment projects have been used to convert landfills into recreational areas in Haywood County, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Those projects, too, involved putting protective soil barriers in place and conducting ongoing environmental monitoring.
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