Client Name: Municipal Housing Authority

Location of Work: Camden, New Jersey

Scope of Work: Excel was retained to conduct a Site Investigation/Remedial Investigation (SI/RI) for a two-year redevelopment and revitalization project of a 22-acre low-income residential housing community.

Through a review of previously conducted environmental investigations for neighboring properties, Excel identified the likely presence of subgrade historic fill underlying portions of the site. Based on these findings Excel prepared a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to be executed by the Municipal Housing Authority for formal NJDEP oversight of on-site environmental concerns. To characterize the extent of the historic fill as required by the NJDEP Technical Requirements for Site Remediation, Excel designed and implemented a soil boring and sampling program in a phased approach so that the construction project would remain on schedule. Through a review of analytical results from the initial phase of soil borings, Excel determined that historic fill material was present site-wide and that visual characterization of the extent of historic fill could be accomplished by supplementing a historical database of soil borings with a minimal amount of new borings. This determination allowed for substantial cost and time savings by eliminating the need for further laboratory analysis and reducing the total number of new soil borings necessary to meet NJDEP requirements. Groundwater quality verification sampling was also performed at the site during the second phase of SI/RI work in order to evaluate options for handling water which may be generated during subgrade construction activities.

Additionally, Excel evaluated the potential need for a variety of environment permits so that all project specific permits would be obtained prior to commencement of construction activities to ensure that there would be no scheduling delays

Project Outcome: Final environmental compliance will consist of a Declaration of Environmental Restrictions(DER) to be executed at the entire site with no change to the original development plans. Engineering controls will include existing and proposed building foundations, existing and proposed street and sidewalk surface cover, and existing and proposed landscaping that will be maintained to prevent potential contact with the subgrade historic fill. Engineering controls, rather than active soil remediation, provided for substantial cost savings by removing the need to remediate the site prior to construction activities and providing the final remedial solution as part of the scheduled construction activities.