Polluted site cleanup done at Plating Inc. site

Devleopment Roundup by JANE MCCLURE

Polluted site cleanup done at Plating Inc. site

A longtime industrial site near Prior Ave. and Pierce Butler Rte. has reached a milestone in cleanup work. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in February that the former Plating Inc. plant site has been cleaned up. Area residents now wonder if redevelopment is ahead.

The EPA, state, county and city officials jumped into action last summer to clean and secure the property at 888 Prior Ave. N. The abandoned chemicals, many in vats and leaking containers, generated a fog-like haze inside the building.

The announcement ends months of work at the property. Crews removed more than 15,000 gallons of hazardous acids, 14 tons of acid sludge, and more than 67 tons of caustic liquids and solids. The previous owners of the property shut the metal plating plant down and walked away more than a year ago.

In an announcement, EPA officials said they have removed the immediate health threat. But now the federal agency must take Action to recover its costs. The EPA is deciding if it can find a responsible party to cover the costs, the total of which hasn’t been announced.

One possibility to help recover costs is when and if the property is sold and redeveloped. One possibility discussed at a community meeting in 2017 is if the property goes through the property tax foreclosure process. City and county officials have heard from developers interested in the site, but no developer names or future uses have been announced. Although the property has had industrial uses for decades, it is just west of a small residential neighborhood.

More transit is a development impetus

While Gov. Mark Dayton’s 2018 bonding bill left out many local and regional projects, one inclusion being watched closely would connect with the area’s popular A Line bus.

Dayton included three Metropolitan Council initiatives in his $1.5 billion bonding proposal, including $50 million for regional bus rapid transit projects.

The area bus line eyed would be the B Line on Marshall Ave. in St. Paul and Lake St. in Minneapolis. It is one of three rapid bus lines eyed for design and engineering studies. The goal would be to offer service in 2020. Other transit projects in the region would also be a focus.

The A line has stops just south of Marshall, at Dayton and Selby avenues. If the B Line is developed, it would provide intersecting bus rapid transit at the first location in St. Paul.

Marshall Ave. is currently the focus of a zoning study to determine where changes could be made. There is also a zoning moratorium on six blocks of that street, which is part of a study to determine where, and if, historic properties should be saved—and if there is a need for historic district protection for parts of the neighborhood. Those studies are to be completed by this fall.