|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
10/03/2006Officials satisfied; public is notExplanation of errors doesn't sit well with somemccoolrecordeagle@sbcglobal.net 
PETOSKEY — Environmental consultants who overstated contamination at the Petoskey Pointe project explained their errors to the apparent satisfaction of county officials. But not to the satisfaction of some residents who attended Monday's Emmet County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority meeting. Brownfield board members asked few questions, but audience members quizzed consulting firm representative Brian Eggers for more than an hour. More than one wanted to know why Eggers' firm, AKT Peerless, didn't realize sooner that soil tests at the property were flawed. Faulty test results were included in a state application that helped net the developers a $4.5 million state tax credit. "I think it's a really critical question. I haven't heard an answer," said Resort Township resident Neal Touran. "Why did nothing happen from May 2005 to April 7, 2006?" May 2005 is when samples were taken that showed high levels of tetrachloroethylene in the soil at the proposed site of a $60 million hotel/condo development. Tests were inaccurate, Eggers said, because a control sample tested with the soil also showed high levels of the same chemical, indicating a contamination error. April 7 is when Peerless acknowledged the error to state regulators. "You don't do a quality control run and not look at the results of it," said Petoskey resident Ted Pall. "It's hard for me to understand how the consultants ... submitted the results" to county officials even after the quality control tests indicated results were false. The same bad information provided to the county was given to the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which awarded project developers the $4.5 million tax credit because of site contamination. Eggers declined to speak with a Record-Eagle reporter after the meeting, saying developers Lake Street Petoskey Associates "will not allow me to talk" to the newspaper. Brownfield board members didn't question Peerless on the testing errors at all, and board chairman Herb Carlson said during the meeting it was a "moot point." The county's environmental consultant adviser, Mac McClelland, had little explanation for why Peerless didn't catch the mistake earlier. "Stuff happens," he said.
|
|
