No sweeping toxins under the rug. CHESTER, PA – Chester is rising some would say. Yet others might point out that it’s only risen but so far off the ground. Contaminated ground that is.
Throughout Delaware County and among charity givers Chester is seen as a place that is in constant need. In need of jobs, in need of adequate housing, political reform and quality education but not too many think about Chester’s need for a cleaner environment. It’s this lack of concern & knowledge that has allowed Chester’s industrial past to haunt it for so long. And even as the city experiences booming development along it’s waterfront it will not be able to continue it’s development without taking an added risk with the health of it’s residents that live along 291 between Flower and Ward Street.
Here’s Environmentalist Mike Ewall, founder of Action PA. “The types of chemicals that are found at these sites and the amount of toxic chemicals that are there which in some places are a few feet thick … They’ve been pumping stuff out of there and trying to keep it from seeping into the Delaware River for years.”
Currently, Pennsylvania State, Delaware County and Chester City have all given green lights to the building of a Soccer Stadium that will be placed on top of an area that was once deemed unusable by the courts. This area has been coined the “Wade Dump” and it is located on Flower Street next to the Commodore Barry Bridge. In order to build there developers have promised to use a process they call Environmental Remediation. In other words they have promised to clean the toxic brownfield so that they can build both the stadium and a residential space for commercial profit.
“We have not done any of our deep plow foundations or any of that yet.” Michael Hare is the Senior Vice President of the Buccini Pollin Group, the Stadium Developer. “We’re in the process of finalizing our notice of intent to remediate to send to DEP.”
Environmentalist were put on red alert, in early October, when the Department of Environmental Protection announced that it was “fast-tracking” the development under it’s Brownfield Action Team. The concern is that the clean up may end up not all that clean if done quickly. BPG may get its stadium but residents may have their health once again put on the back burner of City priorities.
Mike Ewall.“Because they’re a big economic interest that wants to build a stadium and they don’t care about cleaning up the site properly and the only way they can do it is by using the very weak clean up standards that Pennsylvania has to do a quick and dirty clean up on paper not necessarily a real clean up but one that just meets some very basic and limited requirements so that they can declare it clean and go ahead and build somethin’.”
BPG the developer and Weston Solutions the remediation crew will both be cleaning and building simultaneously once the permit to do so is given. Despite the concern of community leaders and environmentalist the Department of Environmental Protection promises that the “fast-track” process they are using is routine and nothing to be alarmed about.
John Kennedy is the Assistant Regional Director of DEP “ Expediting a BAT project does not mean that we’re gonna take any short cuts in the clean up of this site…. And that’s very similar to other sites that have been cleaned up in the region for mixed use or commercial uses.”
Regardless of promises from the developers some leaders in the community desire more transparency about the site’s cleanup. A plan to protect the residents that are surrounded by the current construction has been a key concern.
“Its just that residents are trapped within that general area.” That’s Rev.Strand, founder of Chester’s Environmental Partnership. “And they need to be taken into consideration. And make sure that there is a comprehensive plan to address that issue. At present there isn’t. How would you like to have billion dollar construction going on all around you… the noise, the dust… and your stuck down there in a little hole.”
As the soccer stadium is being built in a basketball town there are residents who question just who all of the development will benefit. Is it for the surrounding boroughs, Philadelphia and the townships or will it also be for the working class that currently lives here? But the hope is that as Chester Rises it considers lifting as many of it’s hard working residents as it can. It would be a shame to see even the most dedicated to C-Pride get left behind.