Schenectady, N.Y. — The Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority today announced that environmental clean-up work would start shortly at one of its downtown surface parking lots located on Broadway in downtown Schenectady.
The project will be funded and coordinated by National Grid. Project oversight will be provided by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the NYS Department of Health. The work is part of a Voluntary Clean-Up Program Agreement between National Grid and DEC.
The parking lot is across the street from a site that was once used by the utility company to manufacture gas used to light homes. The plant was operated from 1866 to 1914. Byproducts from the former gas facility, mainly coal tar, have been found in the soil below the parking a lot at 312 Broadway, which is owned by Metroplex.
National Grid and its contractor, under guidance from the DEC, will excavate soil with traces of the former gas product and replace it with clean soil. Once the excavation and fill work has been completed, the parking lot will be repaved and improved with new fencing, lighting and landscaping.
“National Grid is working diligently across NY to investigate and remediate numerous legacy sites at which manufactured gas plants were operated decades ago by predecessor utility companies,” said Robert D. Teetz, National Grid vice president, environmental services. “We are carefully addressing the sites, including Broadway in Schenectady, in strict accordance with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation directives. We have an excellent track record of addressing these sites in a safe, cost effective and community sensitive manner which ultimately improves the environment in the communities in which they exist.”
The clean-up project will get underway in the next two weeks and will be completed this year.
Broadway will remain open to traffic during the clean-up. A portion of the Broadway lot will be closed. The lot is 1.6 acres and is one of nine surface lots owned by Metroplex in downtown Schenectady. Metroplex also owns and operates a parking garage on Broadway adjacent to the clean-up site. The parking garage will remain open during the project.
Ray Gillen, Metroplex Chair said, “We appreciate National Grid’s commitment to this site clean-up and we are pleased to see another brownfield site in Schenectady County get remediated. Metroplex has already resurfaced and improved the landscaping and lighting at eight other parking lots plus the Broadway parking garage. We held off work on the Broadway lot until this environmental work could be completed. Once it is completed, we will go in and improve this lot.”
More information on the scope of the cleanup effort may be found at the Schenectady County Public Library Main Branch on Clinton Street where a copy of the clean-up plan is available to the public.