Official: Hotel cleanup advancing

HOT SPRINGS — The city expects the Majestic Hotel site to be environmentally cleared before the end of the year, moving the property closer to the redevelopment phase.

The Property Development Document Decision the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued in May identified the removal of lead-contaminated soil as the lone impediment to a certificate of completion that would allow the city to proceed with redevelopment and shield it from liabilities inherited from the 101 Park Ave. property’s previous owner.

The city acquired the 5-acre site in September 2015 from Park Residences Development for $672,872 after condemning it earlier that year.

The removal of 9.5 cubic feet where the hotel laundry was located will give the property a residential/unrestrictive use clearance, freeing it from any deed restrictions limiting how it can be redeveloped. The state said the laundry also may have operated as a dry cleaning facility.

The presence of lead was confirmed by subsurface and groundwater borings a contractor took as part of last year’s phase two comprehensive site assessment. Lead was first identified during an initial site assessment in April 2014, two months after the “yellow brick” building was demolished in a fire.

The state said clearance will be granted when concentrations are less than 200 milligrams per kilogram.

“The human health risk assessment identified lead as the only contaminants of concern in soils due to potential unacceptable non-carcinogenic risks to a future child resident,” the Property Development Document Decision said. “A (200 milligram/kilogram) remedial action level is considered protective of a future child resident, thus allowing for future unrestricted land use.”

The document said the affected area is 2 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep. The city plans to excavate it itself and met with environmental professionals Terracon Consultants Inc. on Monday for guidance on how to proceed.

“The work that has to be done, it’s relatively minor in scope, but it’s very necessary to move it through the process so you can obtain that certificate of completion,” said Lance Spicer, assistant city manager/city clerk, who’s been coordinating the city’s efforts with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality since the property was enrolled in the agency’s brownfield program in 2013. “The area that needs to be excavated is very specific, and of course [the environmental professional] would direct city of Hot Springs staff and the equipment exactly where to excavate.

“They’d also do confirmation sampling and make sure the soil that remains has been remediated to those required screening levels.”

Spicer said the city is taking the initiative on excavation to expedite receipt of the certificate of completion. The city has been waiting for the certificate since demolition of the “red brick” building, Lanai Towers and Lanai Suites concluded in late 2016.

Spicer said excavation should begin this week.

The city expected environmental clearance to be conditioned on removal of the 10,000-gallon, above-ground petroleum storage tank on the north end of the “yellow brick” building parcel, but the state didn’t list it as a requirement.

Spicer said the city will remove the storage tank, even if the state agency isn’t requiring it.