Contamination of soil and groundwater from past industrial activities are being addressed as part of redevelopment. The Alameda County Department of Environmental Health (ACDEH) oversees cleanup activities, including dust management efforts when work is being conducted in contaminated soil. The City of Alameda and the Air District oversees dust management during grading and construction work once the site has been cleaned up. The following environmental work has or will be conducted under the oversight of the ACDEH.
Launch Apartments: Alameda Marina LLC, its subcontractors and its environmental consultant, Wood, have addressed contamination on The Launch apartment site. Work included soil excavations, placement of at least one foot of clean fill to act as a protective cover over any remaining contamination and in utility corridors and installing a vapor intrusion mitigation system as part of the apartment building foundation.
Marina Townhomes: ACDEH is evaluating the draft Corrective Action Plan (CAP) which recommends an approach to address contaminated soil and groundwater located on the eastern portion of the site. The draft CAP proposes soil excavation, off-site disposal, and the possible installation of vapor mitigation systems to protect against soil vapors entering into a future building.
Due to recent construction activities and movement of soil, ACDEH is requiring additional environmental testing of site soil. This work is scheduled to occur in November 2021. Based on the findings from these investigations, ACDEH may require changes to the draft CAP.
Soil stockpiles
On-site soil stockpiles are currently covered unless in use. Stockpiles E-I are being removed and we anticipate this work will be complete at the end of November 2021. Stockpiles will be systematically disassembled and removed in accordance with the Sitewide Dust Management Plan being implemented by an independent, third-party. For more information, please see the dust management section.
Community Protection Measures
Alameda Marina and Landsea Construction are committed to working under the oversight of the ACDEH and the Air District to implement best practices to manage and reduce dust as much as possible.
Dust Management
In response to recent complaints about excessive dust, Alameda Marina LLC and Landsea Construction have hired ENGEO, an independent third-party contractor, to implement a robust dust control plan across the entire project. ENGEO has the authority to stop work in response to community complaints and site conditions. Measures to control dust include:
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- Daily tailboards with ENGEO and on-site construction crews to review the activities for the day and ensure appropriate dust control measures are in place
- Keeping soil moist at all times
- Securely covering all soil stockpiles when not actively be used during the day and covered at the end of the workday
- Plastic stockpile covers will be monitored daily and replaced when needed
- Windsocks and wind speed detectors
- Real-time perimeter air monitoring that will be monitored by a designated ENGEO representative multiple times per day
- An alert system that will notify the designated representative when action levels are exceeded
- Action levels are set to be health protective so the crew can take additional action before there is a health risk
- Should action levels be exceeded, workers will immediately modify operations or shut down work until such time that it can continue without generating excessive dust
- Stopping all earthwork when winds exceed 15 MPH
- Reducing vehicle speeds on dirt roads
- Cleaning trucks before they leave the site
- Sweeping streets, as needed
- Perimeter fence with green screen
ENGEO has also established the following contingency measures should additional efforts be needed to adequately control dust:
- Increase dust control activities/applications
- If those additional actions do not suppress dust concerns, then earth-disturbing work will be suspended, and an evaluation meeting will be held between the contractor performing the work, ENGEO, and developer to assess additional dust suppression measures that may be implemented, including alternative construction practices
- Non-toxic dust stabilizers/suppressants stored on-site
- Additional wind and dust barriers/fencing stored on-site
Should you notice dust that you believe may be coming from the Alameda Marina project, please call or text Tracy Craig immediately at 510-334-4866 so we can address the situation in real time.
Community Concern Response Process
Tracy Craig has been designated as the point-of-contact available 24/7 to address all concerns associated with the project.
Please call or text Tracy Craig immediately at 510-334-4866 so we can address the situation quickly. The following protocols will be followed:
- Tracy will contact the on-site construction representative to alert them of possible issue, understand what is occurring on the site , and develop appropriate action(s).
- Corrective actions will be taken until the concern has been addressed.
- Tracy will follow-up with the community member to let them know how issue was resolved.
Additional Community Protection Measures
In addition to the dust control measures described above, Alameda Marina and Landsea Construction will also implement the following measures during work:
- Monitoring noise levels
- Flaggers to direct traffic entering/exiting site, during truck off-haul activities
- Perimeter site fencing
- Site signage with a clear point-of-contact for concerns
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why do you need to remove contaminated soil?
A. ACDEH requires the removal of contaminated soil prior to the site being redeveloped for residential uses.
Q. There is quite a bit of dust coming from this work. What are you doing to address that?
A. We are taking a variety of steps to be better neighbors and control off-site impacts, including:
• Keeping soil damp
• Securely covering soil stockpiles
• Reducing vehicle speeds
• Stopping earthwork when winds exceed 15 MPH
• Sweeping streets
• Real time perimeter air monitoring
• Appointing one point-of-contact for community concerns
Q. I’m concerned about the dust coming from the project. Could it be harmful to me or my children?
A. In response to community feedback, we have hired an independent third-party who completed a comprehensive Health Risk Evaluation Technical Memorandum for the Alameda Marina redevelopment. The evaluation used worst case long-term and short-term scenarios that assumed off-site residents, including children, could have been exposed to dust from construction activities and soil stockpiles over a short-term window of one hour and a long-term window of the entire 1.5-year redevelopment period (24 hours per day, 7 days per week). Even under this worst-case exposure scenarios, the evaluation determined that there was no unacceptable risk to the community from the dust that blew off-site. ACDEH has reviewed the evaluation and confirmed the findings.
Q. Trucks carrying contaminated soil are traveling down residential streets. Can you adjust the truck route so that they stay out of my neighborhood?
A. Clement Street is a city-approved truck route and all trucks associated with our project, as well as trucks associated with other construction projects in Alameda, are required to use it. Trucks are not allowed on residential side streets. The City of Alameda has sent out a notice to all construction projects on Alameda reminding truckers to be good neighbors by ensuring trucks are clean prior to leaving sites, covering trucks, driving the speed limit, and not deviating from the City approved truck route.
If you see a truck that you believe is associated with the project traveling down a different street than those on the truck route or not following dust mitigation protocol, please contact Tracy Craig immediately at 510-334-4866 so we can address the situation as quickly as possible.
