10/01/2006

Consultants to meet with brownfield officials

Board chair expects explanation for citing flawed tests

By CRAIG McCOOL

mccoolrecordeagle@sbcglobal.net

PETOSKEY — Environmental consultants who cited flawed tests and dramatically overstated pollution at a downtown project site will appear before county brownfield officials Monday.

Consultants from AKT Peerless are expected to update the Brownfield Re-development Authority Board on the status of the Petoskey Pointe project, said board chair Herb Carlson.

"As I understand it, they will be having an explanation. That's what I'll wait to hear," Carlson said. "I'm sure their explanation will prompt some questions."

Peerless consultants this year told the brownfield board they found widespread soil pollution and indicated as much as 10,000 cubic yards of contaminated dirt would need to be hauled away to ready the site for a $60 million downtown condo project.

Based on that information, county officials approved a plan to reimburse developers Lake Street Petoskey Associates as much as $450,000 for cleanup.

But state regulators questioned the results. Peerless acknowledged April 7 to the Department of Environmental Quality that initial tests showing widespread soil contamination were flawed, the product of laboratory "container contamination," records show.

Developers are now in line to get only about $25,000 for testing and removing a few hundred yards of soil.

Project developers, weeks after Peerless acknowledged the mistake with the DEQ, still cited the flawed data in an application for a $4.5 million brownfield tax credit.

The tax break was awarded June 13, though Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office, alerted to the error by the Record-Eagle, asked for a review from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation "based on the concern that the applicant may have knowingly included false information on their application, " said Liz Boyd, a Granholm spokeswoman.

"I think it'll take a week or two. Once we hear from the MEDC ... we'll decide what needs to be done," Boyd said.

The brownfield meeting starts at 5 p.m. in the county government center. Chief county planner and brownfield administrator Brentt Michalek said he a has a few questions for Peerless.

"How come we were at $400,000 and now we're at, like, $30,000? That's the big question," he said. "My other question is: Were there enough tests done?"

See related stories:

• Petoskey Pointe soil borings don't match '94 findings - October 1, 2006
• Developers net $4.5M credit from flawed tests - September 24, 2006
• Brownfield tax break considered 'crucial' - September 24, 2006
• Petoskey Pointe $4.5 million brownfield tax credit time line - September 24, 2006