GREAT BARRINGTON — Surplus properties are one thing. Polluted surplus properties are quite another. The town of Great Barrington is currently grappling with three such properties.
Three years ago, the town received a $300,000 grant to explore options from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its brownfields assessment program. Two of the properties — Ried Cleaners and the former Carpenter’s Variety — are downtown. The third — Cook’s Garage — lies smack in the middle of the Housatonic section of Great Barrington.
Assistant Town Manager Chris Rembold, who also doubles as town planner, held a public briefing last night, via Zoom, to update residents on the progress that has been made on the properties. The goal of the conversation, Rembold said, would be to “discuss how the contamination of these sites influences the future of each site.”
See video below of the last night’s presentation on polluted properties in Great Barrington:
“Our goal here was to identify brownfield sites and assess them so we can understand how many of those contamination issues, if any, impact the site,” Rembold explained to the approximately 30 people who attended the briefing, “so that these properties and sites can be transitioned in some way to meet the community’s needs and contribute to the local economy.”
To perform the work paid for by the EPA grant, the town hired Tom Biolsi, an environmental consultant and geologist from TRC Environmental Corporation, which is based in Lowell. Click here to view fact sheets on all three properties prepared by Rembold, TRC, and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.
Cook’s Garage
The former Cook’s Garage sits an acre and a half on the eastern bank of the Housatonic River, across the river from the former Monument Mills complex. The town acquired the property in 2018 through foreclosure for nonpayment of taxes.
Biolsi’s investigation found that, before becoming an auto garage, the building was used at various times as a finishing building, picker house, or bleachery, and was first in use around the year 1900.
From about 1914–1950, the building was used as a lumber mill. From 1950 on, the building was used as an automotive garage, and an artesian well inside the building was deployed to fill swimming pools.
“We found information that the site may have been used as a gas station at one point in time,” Biolsi explained. “There are records of four underground storage tanks that were removed.”
TRC completed a phase-one environmental assessment of the property in September 2018. The study found one recognized environmental condition related to the former industrial uses of the site. Six different building materials were found to contain asbestos, a hazardous substance which was commonly used as a building material in those days. Click here to see the site plan.
Removal of those hazardous substances would be required in order for the building to be redeveloped or demolished. Concentrations of hazardous substances in soil samples were not sufficient to require notification to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“Based on environmental activities performed to date, no additional investigative or soil cleanup activities are warranted at this time based on the site’s currently vacant status,” the fact sheet said.
Biolsi said the artesian well, which has been the source of much speculation in light of the troubles of the village water company, probably could not be used for potable water “due to regulatory requirements.”
Ried Cleaners
Biolsi and Rembold went through a detailed history of the Ried Cleaners property, which had been used as a dry-cleaning and retail facility until it closed in 2006. In 2019, the town foreclosed on the property for nonpayment of taxes — a procedure that resulted in the town becoming the owner of the property, or as Rembold has characterized it in the past, “the owner of last resort.”
Since its closing, the property has had a long and troubled history. See timeline at right.
The front building on Main Street was used for the retail portion of the business, while the rear building, since demolished, was utilized as the dry-cleaning house. PCE, a harsh dry-cleaning solvent, was stored in underground tanks that later leaked, causing the groundwater beneath the lot to become contaminated.
Previous investigations have identified the presence of chlorinated solvents in the soil within the former rear building’s footprint, in the indoor air of the existing vacant building, and in the Great Barrington Post Office next door, making the post office’s basement unsafe for continuous occupancy. Concentrations were also found in groundwater on the Ried property and extending off the property.
In 2015, the town applied for and received a grant of $91,000 allocated from the Brownfield Assessment Program by MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency. The money was used primarily to assess the extent of the contamination, which was caused primarily by dry cleaning solvents. The state Department of Environmental Protection also performed an investigation.
The upshot was that the price tag for the clean-up was in the neighborhood of $1 million. Last year the town received a $500,000 grant from the EPA’s Brownfields Program to clean up the property. In May 2021, the EPA removed contaminated soil from within the former building’s footprint and disposed of the soil at a licensed facility.
Biolsi said the next step will be to abate the asbestos and other identified hazardous and regulated materials in the existing building before renovation or demolition activities. In addition, the extent of groundwater contamination must continue to be refined. See site plan below:
“Redevelopment of this site is best suited for commercial use with appropriate measures in place to mitigate exposure to residual contaminated soil and indoor air,” the fact sheet said. “Additional investigation, evaluation, and possibly remediation is warranted if a more sensitive use is desired (e.g., residential, day-care, playground) and/or if located in areas not previously investigated.”
Carpenter’s Variety
This building is so-named because it was a variety store and gas station from 1950–1986, when it was discovered that underground gasoline tanks were leaking. The building also housed The Deli and most recently, Hong Kong Buffet. Rembold said, unlike Ried’s and Cook’s, the town does not yet own Carpenter’s but foreclosure proceedings have begun.
Like so many brownfield sites, this one also has a long and troubled history. See timeline at left. Investigations identified the presence of petroleum in groundwater near the Berkshire Community College (BCC) building. Tetrachloroethylene and petroleum were identified in indoor air in the BCC building; however, the concentrations were attributed to chemicals used inside the building and not those originating from the ground, Biolsi said.
The next steps for the building include evaluation for the possible presence of hazardous building materials and the abatement of any hazardous materials prior to renovation or demolition. The investigation and response actions under the state’s regulatory program should continue. Click here to see the site plan.
Redevelopment of this site is likely best suited for commercial and/or mixed use with appropriate measures in place to mitigate potential exposure to indoor air. “Additional investigation, evaluation, and possibly remediation is warranted if a more sensitive use is desired (e.g., residential, day-care, playground) and/or if located in areas not previously investigated,” the fact sheet says.
Market research must also be performed for the Ried site because it is well suited for development, Rembold said.
