Can Toxic Site Become Brownfield Showcase?

Brian J. Back Business Journal Staff Writer

The Rose City Plating redevelopment tale is thick with plot lines and rich in characters. It features a rising developer, an applauded concept and a national showcase, not to mention a library debate, hazardous waste and a criminal who takes it on the lam.

The tale will likely come to a head in early March. That's when the tarnished walls of the former Rose City Plating building are scheduled to tumble to the ground in the predominantly residential Sellwood neighborhood.

Loren Waxman proposes to raise a wedding cake-shaped building from the ashes of the long-standing electroplating operation. Waxman, a recent appointee to the Portland Design Commission, said this is the biggest project he's ever embarked on.

The site--which Sellwood residents agree is an eyesore and a toxic waste site--has a 40-year-history as an electroplating facility under several ownerships. Since the 1960s, the site has been the subject of numerous neighborhood complaints, and businesses on the property have repeatedly violated limits for storage and discharge of hazardous chemicals, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

As Waxman prepares to demolish the building, some neighbors are concerned that knocking the building down will release hazardous chemicals that may be remaining in the concrete floor and soil beneath the building.

Waxman wasn't always eager to forge ahead with his four-story, 24,000-square foot mixed-use plan. A year and a half ago, after he snagged the site for $405,000 in a Multnomah County auction, Waxman refused to take possession because he feared contamination was worse than the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality suggested.

DEQ had spent $336,000 to remove from the abandoned building stockpiles of contamination, including 24,000 gallons of waste, 37 tons of cyanide-contaminated sludge and 58 cubic yards of polluted debris. The property at 7884 S.E. 13th Ave. was "orphaned" after Rose City Plating owner Nicholas Lebeck refused to clean the building. He made headlines by fleeing the state to avoid prosecution.

Lebeck eventually turned himself in, and officials eventually obtained a search warrant. In March 1995, entering the facility clad in hazmat suits, a Portland Fire Bureau team found decaying, unlabeled and spilled vats of chemicals shrouded by a vapor cloud. Hydrochloric acid and cyanide solutions had apparently mixed together. A decision was made to ventilate the room by opening doors, but the cloud failed to dissipate by the end of the day, according to a DEQ report.

Fast-forward to the present. The property has been picked as one of a select assortment of brownfield showcase sites in the nation. A brownfield is a site dubbed by the Environmental Protection Agency to have actual or perceived contamination--yet potential for redevelopment. Portland was one of 16 cities in the United States to land an EPA grant to cultivate brownfield "showcases," and Waxman's project, Sellwood Library Lofts, was tapped as one.

Waxman says that in just over a year, he will have the rest of the site's contamination removed, a new retail and residential building erected, and occupants moving in.

In August 1999, two more hazardous waste containers were found emitting odors on the site. One contained corrosive liquids and metals; the other contained more than 1,000 gallons of cyanide. One month later, DEQ undertook a two-day, $20,000 brownfield investigation. Contaminant residue was found in the concrete flooring and soils beneath the building, but Waxman said his apprehensions with the project were calmed.

"We went in looking for trouble," he said. "As the owner, I wanted us to go to the places we were most likely to find contaminants. As an owner, I wanted to know. I was satisfied, and I was pretty tough to convince."

At a Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood meeting earlier this month, Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn told 200 people who had gathered that the site was clean. Waxman corrected her, but said the lingering contaminants would be hauled off to landfills in demolished building debris or in 10 garbage truck loads of soil that will soon be excavated. He estimates the upcoming cleaning bill will total $300,000 to $400,000. "When we're done excavating and cleaning this site, you could sit down and roll around in the dirt," he told the crowd. "You could eat a spoonful of it for 30 years without any problem."

The 200 Sellwood-Moreland residents had gathered to discuss where to put an expanded neighborhood library. Waxman's development and an existing library site were presented as two options to be voted on by the end of the evening. With the neighborhood's backing, Linn said negotiations will begin with the developer.

Mark Pugh, DEQ project manager, said that in his professional opinion, the property is ready for redevelopment. Linn, who lives three blocks from the notorious site, said she and other neighbors are eager for the Rose City Plating eyesore to be nixed. "The sooner that building goes down and is gone forever, the better," she said. "We're angry about that building."

Other neighbors say they want to know more about the hazards that did or do still exist. Sam Steiner, who lives on nearby Southeast Malden Street, spoke up at the meeting about 10 unexplained cancer cases on her street.

"I have a little bit of difficulty with the process," she said. "I was not aware that demolition is happening in three weeks. As I speak to other neighbors, they are alarmed." In the wake of an impending demolition, Steiner said she is concerned about dust control for contaminants left in the concrete and soil. A DEQ report outlining thorough procedures for the demolition states that "rainfall may provide sufficient dust control."

Waxman said he was not exactly certain about requirements for notifying the neighborhood about the demolition, but he plans to "hand walk" the neighborhood soon. "We're trying to do whatever we can to work with the community and address fears," he said.

Linn, who stressed that she is assuming a leadership role in the initiative, is confident that DEQ plans are sufficient. "I'm betting my health on it and that of my children," she said. "I hope to hell it's good enough."