Assessment Finds Broad Street Parkade "Clear" of Any Environmental Hurdles

An independent environmental assessment of the Broad Street Parkade property found the site to be clear of any significant “recognized environmental conditions,” clearing another hurdle in the potential redevelopment of the prominently blighted 19-acre property.

The Board of Directors is considering whether to the abandoned shopping plaza and land for $2 million from its private owner, the Boston-based limited liability company FNM Manchester. Some in the community have about the deal, citing issues with previous developments and past economic activity on the site that they say made it an dumping ground full of environmental hazards.

The environmental assessment, completed by GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., a Glastonbury-based environmental consulting and remediation firm, did not find any major issues with the land. In the report’s summary, it listed two areas of minor environmental concern: an old transformer leaked oil into a portion of the soil and “low concentrations” of volatile organic compounds were found in tested ground water.

According to the report, neither of these findings pose a significant remediation problem and recommends “soil excavation” and the “the pumping of groundwater to dewater certain site areas and a management plan for (volatile organic compounds).”

Another firm, the report states, is conducting an assessment of potential hazardous materials contained in the actual building located on the site.

“They didn’t find anything that was beyond the allowable levels that the (Department of Environmental Protection) regulates,” Senior Planner Gary Anderson said. “There aren’t any major concerns. There are some minor issues that were identified that need to be addressed...they didn’t find anything that was going to be a deal breaker.”

GZA submitted the report, which cost $5,000, to the Manchester Redevelopment Agency on Feb. 3.

Timothy Devanney, owner of and chairman of the agency, said he was very pleased and excited about the report’s findings. The agency is overseeing the redevelopment of the Broad Street area.

“It means that all the stories that we’ve heard over the last 2 years, and going back 50 years, aren’t true,” Devanney said about rumored environmental issues on the property. “We’re clear and that’s exciting, because there were a lot of naysayers saying this is a dirty site and you can’t do this or you can’t do that with the property.”

The redevelopment agency will review the environmental assessment and is expected to recommend it to the Board of Directors during the Thursday meeting.

If the agency makes the formal recommendation, General Manager Scott Shanley said Monday that the board could hold another public hearing to discuss whether to appropriate money to purchase the site; such as hearing could be scheduled for the board's first meeting in March. From there, the board could then vote to purchase the property.

The environmental assessment is available for inspection in the offices of the Planning and Economic Development departments, located in the Lincoln Center on Main Street.