The Aquila building at Eighth and Pennsylvania streets sits on the site of a former coal pit. East Lawrence leaders believe the site should be cleaned up before a commercial and residential development goes in across the street. But Aquila officials do not believe the site poses a threat of contaminants.

It is the type of document that causes red flags to flap in East Lawrence.

A covenant recorded in the Douglas County Courthouse forever bans any housing from being placed on the northeast corner of Eighth and Pennsylvania streets, the site of a maintenance building for natural gas provider Aquila.

The reason: contaminated soil.

The site has long had environmental issues, but now it is catching the attention of neighborhood leaders because a major housing and office development is slated to develop across the street from the site.

“We would just like to make sure that the children who will be playing in this area will be safe,” said K.T. Walsh, vice president of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association.

History’s leftovers

Today, the property looks like an innocuous blue-collar work site. A forklift motors around the galvanized-tin building. A train horn from the nearby tracks occasionally pierces the air. Most of the work done at the site is rebuilding and refurbishing of natural gas meters.

But from 1869 to 1905, the site produced most of Lawrence’s natural gas supply.

“Back then there wasn’t a way to get natural gas through the pipes like there is today,” explained Curt Floerchinger, an Aquila spokesman. “So these sites that were constructed would burn coal and a little bit of oil and get gas from that.”

The process, though, produced a by-product: coal tar. For decades, the coal tar was dumped into a pit. In the early 1990s, the pit was rediscovered as the area was being researched as a route for an eastern bypass project. The bypass never came, but environmental leaders didn’t forget about the tar pit. In 1998, Aquila and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment removed the pit to alleviate environmental concerns.

“We removed 33 tons of the tar pit and the soil above it to make sure it was safe,” Floerchinger said.

But now, neighbors are concerned that residuals of the coal tar – which has chemicals thought to be cancer causing – still linger.

“We just want to know what KDHE would do to make it safe,” Walsh said.

Walsh said that could involve the state taking samples of the soil, and perhaps removing more soil if it is found to be contaminated.

Cleanup costs

But KDHE and Aquila leaders said the work done in 1998 has removed any risk that the property would create environmental or health issues for the neighborhood.

Kurt Limesand, a geologist who monitors the property for KDHE, said any remaining contaminants are well below the topsoil level, and they are not the type of compounds that move much in the soil or vaporize into the air.

“I don’t think there is anything there that poses a threat,” Limesand said.

Neighbors want to be sure, in part, because the site is right on the edge of the largest redevelopment project East Lawrence has seen in decades. Lawrence businessman Bo Harris already has received city approval to redevelop much of the former industrial land across the street from the site into a mix of condos, row houses, offices and retail space.

Floerchinger said Aquila is aware of the development, and it doesn’t change the company’s opinion that the site poses no risk. After all, he said, the company allows its employees on the site every day.

“If we had any concerns at all, we would not risk their safety,” Floerchinger said. “We replaced the soil for about a foot down. We took the old soil out, and there is gravel on top of that. There is no reason for anyone to be concerned about blow-off or anything like that.”

State officials, though, concede that the site is not completely free of pollution. That’s why the state insisted that restrictions be put on the deed of the property. The restrictions prohibit residential construction or any other activity that “would necessitate frequent contact with the soil.” Limesand said the deed restriction combined with the removal of the tar pit was deemed to be the most feasible way to address the site.

He said a 1994 study determined that to remove the remaining amount of contaminants at the site would be extremely expensive compared with the improvement it would make to the environment. The study estimated it would cost $1.8 million to completely clean the site.

“That’s a cost that we don’t want to pass along to our ratepayers,” Floerchinger said.

Walsh said she was under the impression that there may be grant money available for such cleanup efforts, but Limesand said he didn’t think that was likely.

Limesand, though, said KDHE had been made aware of the neighborhood’s concerns, and it has had conversations with Aquila about installing a better fence around the area.