Text of the remarks made by City of Fort Wayne Brownfields Coordinator Lindsey Maksim providing an update to the Fort Wayne City Council on May 13, 2025, on the North River site remediation efforts.
City of Fort Wayne, Indiana news release:
269,957 - State Remediation 2,000,000 - EPA Remediation 1,000,000 - State Remediation ---------- $3,403,062 - Grant TotalComments from Lindsey Maksim, City Brownfields Coordinator Presentation to City Council, 5-13-25 regarding remediation on North River site
Fort Wayne, Indiana (May 13, 2025) – Good evening. My name is Lindsey Maksim and I am the Brownfields Coordinator for City Redevelopment. In 2017, the City purchased the 29 acre site, locally known as North River. The site, just north of downtown and riverfront, sits along the Clinton Street gateway into downtown, between the Bloomingdale neighborhood and Lawton Park/Science Central. A site of its size and its location would be an asset for any community but with the City’s tremendous investment into the riverfront, this site is now a pivotal part to bringing the community’s vision for an active and engaging riverfront to life.
So, let’s start at the beginning. (CUE SLIDE). The site was previously occupied by various commercial and industrial uses from at least 1902-2006. Outside of OmniSource, the site was also home to a railyard, various engineering and manufacturing companies, a junkyard, and an auto parts warehouse among many other uses before becoming the vacant field that sits today.
North River is a brownfield. I bet many of you have heard the term “brownfield” but probably are not quite sure what it means. A brownfield is any property that has real OR perceived environmental issues that limit redevelopment. They are often a major cause of blight and disinvestment. With their unique access to cleanup grants, expertise and relationships, it is very common for government to take ownership of brownfields to prepare them for their highest and best re-use. For almost the past two decades, the City has envisioned and worked towards the revitalization of this brownfield, North River.
(Cue Slide ) Although still privately owned in 2007, after the site was vacated, the City and community leaders began formal planning and community engagement for the site with the North River Now plan. This engagement and planning process has continued to this day with the Riverfront Conceptual Plan, Downtown Blueprint Plans, Riverfront Development Implementation Framework Plan and All in Alleni.
(Cue Slide) Also in 2007, continuing until 2017, the City worked with the site owner and an environmental consultant to complete pre-acquisition due diligence. The City completed systematic soil testing to identify contaminants from the site’s prior uses. 33 Test Pits, 9 soil borings and 116 soil samples were completed. The results indicated that the tested areas had contaminated fill, mainly from metals, and foundry sand. The results were typical and are common issues found in industrial and commercial areas. Additionally, these results are especially common in historic urban areas that used fill to raise land to prevent flooding.
In 2017, The City purchased the property and immediately made all environmental documents public on the City’s website. Additionally, all known reports were submitted to Indiana Brownfields Program, as the site was entered into their program. Since then all testing and remediation have been directed by their guidance. They also publicly share all reports and correspondence on their Virtual Filing Cabinet.
Shortly after we purchased the property in 2018, we completed additional testing to delineate the 2007 results and to further test areas around prior uses. Once again, we found the same typical issues; metals were mainly found with additional small amounts of PAHs [Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons], VOCs Volatile organic compounds] and PCBs [Polychlorinated biphenyl] but also 2 Underground storage tanks (removed now) and 4 underground turntables associated with the historical railyard.
The following year, in 2019, the Indiana Brownfields Program granted the City approximately $270k to remediate the known contamination found during the 2007 and 2018 investigations. Approximately 2500 tons of impacted soil were removed from 25 locations. During this process the impacted fill was determined to be more widespread than the known hotspots. Native soil and groundwater beneath the fill were found to be clean but the testing associated with the hot spot removal indicated that more soil needed to be tested and removed from the site.
To continue to move the site towards redevelopment, in 2021, we worked with the State to define a new testing plan to fully characterize the entire site using EPA Assessment Grant funds. Instead of looking at the site for possible hot spots based on prior use, we separated North River into smaller, developable sections and tested for residential and commercial use. The testing results reiterated what we had anticipated. The fill throughout the site was contaminated in varying levels.
With a better understanding of the widespread impacted fill, and with the site separated into smaller sections, we created a Soil Management Plan. It is a report or guidance plan that details how to handle, transport, dispose and/or use the soil on site. Each subsection that we created with the testing has its own guidance system that details what level of impacts are present and how to work with it. This plan is essentially a tool that provides necessary guidance for everyone who works on the site from construction workers to developers.
Although we now have a Soil Management Plan to guide the usability of North River’s soil, it should be noted that regulations and guidance do change. Since we purchased the property, there have been some significant changes that have impacted the needs and costs.
- In 2021 Backfill guidance and requirements changed; soil can no longer be moved across the site or brought on from another site without considerable testing and special permitting. Purchasing clean backfill is recommended.
- In 2022, the State changed to a risk-based closure guide (R2) that outlines new testing and closure changes.
- Just last year, residential lead limits were cut in half.
As guidance and regulations change, the Soil Management Plan will need to be updated appropriately.
Here we are today. North River is a large site but not a complicated site. The groundwater is fine and the fill contaminants are not uncommon. This site is stable and the plan is straightforward. As we move forward to prepare the site for redevelopment, this Soil Management Plan will be the foundation for the site’s remediation. The plan provides a path for soil to remain in place or for it to be disposed, as needed per each individual project and area.
Final remediation needs will be based on the site layout and end use of each project, such as whether a certain area will be landscaping, park space, residential, commercial or parking and additionally, how suitable the soils are to hold each structure and its foundation. When it comes to brownfields, it is not necessary to make the space pristine but to ensure that we remove the necessary environmental issues that limit re-use and investment.
The City has the expertise to navigate the technical and regulatory requirements of the site’s remediation and re-use, access to grant funds and relationships with the regulators to ensure that the remediation plan is efficient and effective. Brownfields clean-up grant dollars are extremely competitive and only given to governments, tribes and non-profits that own brownfield properties. It was our re-use strategy, its alignment to the City’s revitalization plans, and the level of public engagement that set us apart from other organizations across the State and Country when applying for those funds. As of today, we have $3.4 million dedicated to the site’s assessment and remediation to ensure that North River is prepared for the highest and best use that serves the entire community.
City Assessments - $216,124.52 Grants $133,105 - EPA Assessments
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