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McGuire Gardens Housing Complex Hope IV Revitalization Project
CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
The McGuire Gardens Housing Complex is a low-income, multi-family unit
housing development located in the City of Camden that is owned and operated
by the Camden Housing Authority. The Camden Housing Authority received
financial assistance from the Housing and Urban Development Authority
under the Hope IV Program for a site-wide redevelopment of the 22-acre
property. Soon after the project was initiated, however, suspect contaminated
Historic Fill was encountered. Because the scope of the site-wide redevelopment
project included demolition of existing structures, construction of new
housing units, and realignment of streets and sub-grade utilities, the
potential for contaminated soil posed significant concerns regarding the
current and future residential use of the property.
In 1995, the project architects retained EXCEL Environmental Resources,
Inc. (EXCEL) to delineate the extent of the Historic Fill. Utilizing innovative
investigation techniques, EXCEL completed an expedited investigation and
developed a remediation plan that utilized the new multi-family dwellings,
asphalt-paved parking lots and streets, concrete sidewalks, and landscaped
areas as Engineering Controls, along with a Deed Notice, thus enabling
residential use of the 22-acre Site without impacting the construction
budget.
Project Overview
- EXCEL was retained by the project architects, The Sheward Partnership,
to conduct a focused Site Investigation (SI) on an expedited schedule
to verify soil quality at the Site and define the extent of any contaminated
Historic Fill without interfering with the construction schedule;
- EXCEL designed a soil boring and sampling program using historic geotechnical
boring logs to minimize the number of additional borings necessary to
satisfy NJDEP requirements for investigation of Historic Fill;
- EXCEL determined that the contaminated Historic Fill extended across
the 22-acre Site. Since it was consistent in composition and analytical
quality, visual characterization was used to confirm the vertical extent
of the fill thus saving time and limiting the drilling and laboratory
analytical costs associated with the Remedial Investigation (RI);
- After lateral and vertical delineation was completed, EXCEL was retained
by the construction contractor, Michaels Development Corporation, to
prepare and implement an effective and cost-efficient Remedial Action
Work Plan (RAWP) to allow residential use of the property without removing
the sub-grade contaminated soil;
- All excavated Historic Fill was reused onsite as sub-grade fill under
one or more of the new construction elements and there was no offsite
disposal of contaminated soil required thus saving the project hundreds
of thousands of dollars in transportation and disposal costs;
- The RAWP fully integrated the remediation into the Hope IV Revitalization
Design by utilizing the new and existing construction elements (i.e.
buildings, asphalt pavement, concrete sidewalks, landscaped areas, etc.)
as Engineering Controls to effectively cap the 22 acres of contaminated
Historic Fill;
- Instead of providing an onsite Construction Manager during the entire
two-year project, EXCEL trained Michaels Development Corporation’s
OSHA-certified supervisor and work crew to properly handle and manage
the excavated Historic Fill thus significantly reducing the cost of
environmental compliance.
Key Components of EXCEL’s Work Scope
- Prepared a SI and RI work scope designed to effectively and cost-efficiently
verify soil quality and complete lateral and vertical delineation of
the contaminated Historic Fill across the 22-acre Site on an expedited
basis;
- Visually characterized the Historic Fill to complete vertical delineation
thus saving time and money by reducing the number of soil samples for
laboratory analysis;
- Reused all excavated contaminated soil as sub-grade fill in lieu of
offsite transportation and disposal thus saving the project hundreds
of thousands of dollars in transportation and disposal costs;
- Utilized the new and existing multi-unit residential dwellings, buildings,
asphalt-paved parking lots and streets, landscaped areas, etc. as Engineering
Controls with a site-wide Deed Notice as the final remediation for soil
at the Site;
- Trained the construction crews and provided overall Project Management
to ensure strict adherence to the remediation work scope and schedule
resulting in completion of the redevelopment project on schedule and
within budget.
Primary Environmental Services
Provided by EXCEL
- Site and Remedial Investigation
- Integrated Remediation into Redevelopment Plans
- Engineering and Institutional Controls
- Remedial Action Work Plan
- Agency Negotiations and Coordination
- Remediation Training and Construction Management
- Overall Project Management
- Preparation of Project Documents, including Work Plans and Reports
Clients
The Sheward Partnership,
Michaels Development Corporation,
and the Camden Housing Authority
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