title
GAINESVILLE JOB CORPS CENTER FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND FINAL CONSENT ORDER (B)
recommendation
The City Commission: 1) approve the terms and conditions of the Settlement Agreement and the Consent Order and; 2) authorize the City Attorney to execute the Agreement and Order on behalf of the City of Gainesville.
explanation
INTRODUCTION
This endeavor originally started several years ago at the initiative of Erik Bredfeldt when he served as the City's Economic Development Director. Several lots at the Airport Industrial Park were affected by the contamination that migrated onto the City-owned property from adjacent property. The contamination made the lots unavailable for sale and development. The contamination also potentially threatened the City's wellfield which is downstream from Little Hatchet Creek raising concerns of GRU. The City Attorney's Office with the assistance of Bill Pence, Special Counsel, worked diligently over the past years to bring about this desired result.
BACKGROUND
In the early to mid-1990s, chlorinated solvent contamination was discovered at the Site. For several years following discovery, DOL, as the current property owner, worked with FDEP by retaining environmental consulting firms to attempt to delineate the extent of environmental impacts at the Site. By April 2001, the results of such investigations identified significant groundwater contamination present along the southern boundary of the Site, which had migrated onto several unimproved lots within Airport Industrial Park which the City seeks to sell for commercial development.
The source of contamination was suspected to have been the result of releases of chlorinated solvents from the Site during the former operation of The Sperry Corporation ("Sperry") manufacturing plant, which operated at the Site from approximately 1955 to 1978. To encourage Sperry to come to Gainesville in the early 1950s, the City's Employees Fidelity Fund ("EFF") en...
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