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For years, the site at 5-27 Kensington Road has been oft discussed and debated throughout the village, which was formally the home to a filling station, parking structure and abandoned power plant that left the soil contaminated.
The garage building did not change in configuration between 1918 and 1980, but there were underground storage tanks and a filling station added to the site for a decade during its operation, exacerbating the contamination. The power plant also featured coal storage piles, fuel oil tanks, a boiler house and engine room.
The village purchased the site in the 1980s, demolished the power plant and garage and used the space for municipal parking. This is the third attempt at redeveloping the location, with the Gateway Development Group and Fareri Associates taking over in 2007.
In total, approximately 31,000 tons of soil that exceeded the unrestricted soil cleanup objectives were excavated and disposed of off-site. A Site Management Plan has also been developed to determine any land use restrictions in select areas of the site. It is estimated that the cleanup may have cost as much as $10 million.
Moving forward, the village is waiting on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to approve the Final Engineering Report, which will then be made available to the public. The NYSDEC will then issue a Certificate of Completion, allowing for the redevelopment on the site after years of consternation.
Developers will have no liability to the state for contamination coming from the site and would then be eligible for tax credits to offset the costs of performing the cleanup and for redevelopment at the site. The Certificate of Completion can be revoked if developers don’t comply with the terms of the cleanup agreement.
According to Village Administrator James Palmer, with the final truckloads of sediment removed from the site, concrete work for the buildout of the remainder of a new 300-space parking garage has begun. It is expected to be completed and available by early next year. Framing and installation of windows for the condominiums began last month. Occupancy in the condos is still expected for next summer.
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