Benicia's Real Fixer-Upper
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Nov. 24, 2003
BENICIA -- deep lacerations slash the dry hillside, scars of TNT explosive strips. A gaping hole in the earth marks an old demolition pit.
Crews have clawed large chunks out of this old ranch land, sifting through every inch of dirt in an unprecedented hunt for leftover military weapons and hazardous soil.
So far, nearly 800 pieces of ordnance and explosives have been lifted from what is called the Tourtelot property. Every item is being destroyed.
This is unlike any housing construction project in California history.
Capping years of multi-agency wrangling and grave environmental concerns, a developer is turning land once used by the Army to test explosives into the last sizable housing project in the city.
When the Tourtelot project in northeast Benicia is finished in three to five years, it will be called the Waters End subdivision and will include 417 houses. It is the final piece of developable land in a sprawling, 5,000-unit housing project called Southampton Hills, which began in the late 1960s.
The first Tourtelot parcel, about 25 acres, has already been cleaned and approved by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, the lead agency involved.
"We can eat the dirt here, if we wanted to," said Frank Cota, an independent quality control manager at Tourtelot.
On this part of the property, the first four of 81 houses have already been framed.
While carpenters pound nails into the large houses -- measuring up to 3,400 square feet -- a more complex series of jobs unfolds across the remaining 200 acres.
In an area that will be ringed by new houses and spared as city open space, a crew has dug as deep as 28 feet to bedrock. This is where the Army buried its old munitions and blew them up.
"This will all get backfill and re-planted with native plants," said Scott Goldie, senior vice president of Pacific Bay Homes, the developer.
"A year from now," he added, aiming an index finger at the site during a recent tour, "you can come out and it will all look completely pristine."
The U.S. Army leased this 230-acre ranch for nearly two decades, from 1944 to 1960, as part of the Benicia Arsenal. Portions of Tourtelot were used to test howitzer barrels by firing dummy shells into sand-filled concrete tunnels dug into the hillside.
When the arsenal closed in 1964, the Army left behind live grenades, toxic waste and scrap metal. Soon, the Tourtelot property changed hands and a plan eventually called for residential houses.
In 1996, a developer checking the grounds discovered live artillery shells, which sent a clamor of concern through Benicia.
"We're a private company, have this land -- and suddenly have a real issue on our hands," Goldie said.
The Army agreed that it was responsible for the cleanup costs, but the developer did not want to wait until the funds became available.
Pacific Bay Homes, in response, opted to "pre-fund" the cleanup, and has spent "tens of millions" of dollars to date. Goldie declined to be more specific, but said negotiations continue with the Army over reimbursement.
In any case, he called the project "an unprecedented team atmosphere." Indeed, it involves the private sector, the Army Corps of Engineers, city officials and the state.
"We all agreed not only to coordinate a work plan," Goldie said, "but to get it done."
What started out as a field hunt with metal detectors has evolved into a knotty operation in which houses are being erected even as the hunt for explosives continues.
Every day, 40 to 60 workers show up and 120,000 holes have been punched all over the property.
In one area of Tourtelot, called the North Valley, workers sift through soil that runs along a conveyer belt. The soil is reduced to a fine powder, and a magnet identifies any metal items, which are removed and destroyed.
On a productive day, the sifter can go through 1,000 yards of dirt.
More than 1.5 million yards of cleaned dirt will end up on the floor of the North Valley. Piled on top will be fresh soil and, finally, 336 houses.
Also, the project includes what is called the Donovan Blast Chamber, which looks like a Dumpster with a motor. Ordnance items are placed inside the chamber, which immediately cools the blast and minimizes environmental impacts.
"Externally, all you hear is a pop," said Goldie, whose hillside home overlooks the Tourtelot project. "It's sort of anticlimactic."
The cleanup is expected to be finished by June 2004.
Meanwhile, there are about 300 similar defense sites known for the presence of ordnance up and down California, said Jim Austreng, a state ordnance and explosives coordinator.
Some of them, like Tourtelot, will be converted into subdivisions.
"This will be used as a model," Austreng said, "to guide us in that direction."
Contra Costa Newspapers
Nov. 24, 2003
BENICIA -- deep lacerations slash the dry hillside, scars of TNT explosive strips. A gaping hole in the earth marks an old demolition pit.
Crews have clawed large chunks out of this old ranch land, sifting through every inch of dirt in an unprecedented hunt for leftover military weapons and hazardous soil.
So far, nearly 800 pieces of ordnance and explosives have been lifted from what is called the Tourtelot property. Every item is being destroyed.
This is unlike any housing construction project in California history.
Capping years of multi-agency wrangling and grave environmental concerns, a developer is turning land once used by the Army to test explosives into the last sizable housing project in the city.
When the Tourtelot project in northeast Benicia is finished in three to five years, it will be called the Waters End subdivision and will include 417 houses. It is the final piece of developable land in a sprawling, 5,000-unit housing project called Southampton Hills, which began in the late 1960s.
The first Tourtelot parcel, about 25 acres, has already been cleaned and approved by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, the lead agency involved.
"We can eat the dirt here, if we wanted to," said Frank Cota, an independent quality control manager at Tourtelot.
On this part of the property, the first four of 81 houses have already been framed.
While carpenters pound nails into the large houses -- measuring up to 3,400 square feet -- a more complex series of jobs unfolds across the remaining 200 acres.
In an area that will be ringed by new houses and spared as city open space, a crew has dug as deep as 28 feet to bedrock. This is where the Army buried its old munitions and blew them up.
"This will all get backfill and re-planted with native plants," said Scott Goldie, senior vice president of Pacific Bay Homes, the developer.
"A year from now," he added, aiming an index finger at the site during a recent tour, "you can come out and it will all look completely pristine."
The U.S. Army leased this 230-acre ranch for nearly two decades, from 1944 to 1960, as part of the Benicia Arsenal. Portions of Tourtelot were used to test howitzer barrels by firing dummy shells into sand-filled concrete tunnels dug into the hillside.
When the arsenal closed in 1964, the Army left behind live grenades, toxic waste and scrap metal. Soon, the Tourtelot property changed hands and a plan eventually called for residential houses.
In 1996, a developer checking the grounds discovered live artillery shells, which sent a clamor of concern through Benicia.
"We're a private company, have this land -- and suddenly have a real issue on our hands," Goldie said.
The Army agreed that it was responsible for the cleanup costs, but the developer did not want to wait until the funds became available.
Pacific Bay Homes, in response, opted to "pre-fund" the cleanup, and has spent "tens of millions" of dollars to date. Goldie declined to be more specific, but said negotiations continue with the Army over reimbursement.
In any case, he called the project "an unprecedented team atmosphere." Indeed, it involves the private sector, the Army Corps of Engineers, city officials and the state.
"We all agreed not only to coordinate a work plan," Goldie said, "but to get it done."
What started out as a field hunt with metal detectors has evolved into a knotty operation in which houses are being erected even as the hunt for explosives continues.
Every day, 40 to 60 workers show up and 120,000 holes have been punched all over the property.
In one area of Tourtelot, called the North Valley, workers sift through soil that runs along a conveyer belt. The soil is reduced to a fine powder, and a magnet identifies any metal items, which are removed and destroyed.
On a productive day, the sifter can go through 1,000 yards of dirt.
More than 1.5 million yards of cleaned dirt will end up on the floor of the North Valley. Piled on top will be fresh soil and, finally, 336 houses.
Also, the project includes what is called the Donovan Blast Chamber, which looks like a Dumpster with a motor. Ordnance items are placed inside the chamber, which immediately cools the blast and minimizes environmental impacts.
"Externally, all you hear is a pop," said Goldie, whose hillside home overlooks the Tourtelot project. "It's sort of anticlimactic."
The cleanup is expected to be finished by June 2004.
Meanwhile, there are about 300 similar defense sites known for the presence of ordnance up and down California, said Jim Austreng, a state ordnance and explosives coordinator.
Some of them, like Tourtelot, will be converted into subdivisions.
"This will be used as a model," Austreng said, "to guide us in that direction."
posted by Corey at 8:26 PM
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