There are no plans at the City of Calgary to clean up creosote from a former wood treatment plant site that operated for decades on the west end of the downtown core.
Concerns over the toxic chemical resurfaced this week as council approved the rezoning of a site on the north side of the Bow River where traces of the chemical were found, despite concerns from residents over the developer’s environmental contingency plans approved by Alberta Environment.
Creosote was found in the bedrock, seven metres below the site along Westmount Boulevard N.W.
However, the creosote contamination stems from the south side of the Bow River, where a wood treatment plant operated west of the city’s downtown core between 1924 and 1962.
The plant used creosote, a toxic mixture of about 200 chemicals, to preserve wood products such as railway ties and power poles.
Over time, the chemicals migrated into and under the Bow River and crossed under the communities on the north side of the Bow River.
“When the plant was operating, there wasn’t a containment site and this is probably the period where most of the migration of the creosote materials occurred,” said Frank Frigo with the City of Calgary’s environmental management department.
A containment wall and groundwater collection system was installed on the south bank of the Bow River in 1995 by the City of Calgary and the provincial government. The city has been operating the containment system since 1997 and monitoring has been ongoing since 2004.
According to a recent five-year monitoring program from the province, there are no concerns to human health when compared to human health guidelines.
“Things have gotten better but the long-term fate of that site isn’t clear yet,” Frigo said.
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City officials confirmed there are currently no plans to remediate the site on the west end of the downtown core.
The City of Calgary purchased the land for $37 million back in 2009, which now sits mostly vacant with the closure of the Greyhound bus station and one of the two auto dealers in the area.
“The city is growing so we need to look at all options that we have,” said Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek. “It’s something I believe we should be looking at but there’s no updates right now.”
It’s been several years since remediating the site was last discussed, when Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation pitched its CalgaryNEXT arena project on the west side of downtown in 2016.
However, that project was quashed due in part to estimated costs including up to $300 million to clean up the creosote from the site.
According to Frigo, provincial legislation mandates the “original polluter” is responsible for remediating the site, and redevelopment could be challenging without a full cleanup of the area.
A provincial study from 2020 found potential vapour impacts and groundwater contaminants closer to the topsoil on the south side of the river.
“If eventual redevelopment occurs, there will have to be some thought process around how the soils can be re-used, if at all, or if they’ll need to be removed from the site to enable development,” Frigo said.
Redeveloping the west end could still be many years away, according to Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, due to competing priorities.
“I think right now it’s 30 years out,” Carra said. “But if the city continues to grow at the pace that it’s growing, that 30 years might become 15 years.”
Carra said the city may need need to use a Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) to spur redevelopment in the area, a financial mechanism the city can employ to borrow funds against future property tax revenues to help pay for infrastructure development.
The City of Calgary currently uses a CRL for the East Village and the Rivers District which was extended through 2048.
“You have a chance that you’re cannibalizing and the growth that’s going into the first one is split, and then you never get paid back for either,” Carra said. “The conventional wisdom is you don’t start on the west village until you’ve fully paid back the CRL on the East Village and arts and entertainment districts.”
This means it could be nearly 100 years after the site closed for the creosote it left behind to get cleaned up.
According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas, the province continues to work with the City of Calgary “to ensure any potential risks on the south side of the Bow River are managed.”
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