EVERETT — The cleanup of American Legion Memorial Park, delayed for about a year, is about to begin and will require closing the park.
The work of removing soil contaminated by a former nearby smelter will involve closing a portion of the park around the arboretum July 20. The remainder of the park, including the picnic shelter, playground, parking area, and American Legion Hall, will be closed Sept. 8, said Meg Bommarito, a project manager for the state Department of Ecology.
The park, at 145 Alverson St., is one of the most popular in the city. “We want to make sure everyone knows what’s happening,” Bommarito said. “In about a week, half the park will be closed.”
Signs have been posted announcing the pending closures both in the park and the nearby parking area overlooking of Port Gardner. Notices of the park’s closure also have been mailed out to residents, she said.
Bommarito said the park’s closure was put off as long as possible so as to not conflict with the city’s annual July 4th celebration and the Sorticulture festival in June.
After Labor Day, the park will be fenced off so cleanup work can get under way. Contractors will dig down and remove about a foot of soil. Depending on degree of soil contamination, digging may go down a little deeper but will not exceed two feet, she said.
Traces of arsenic, lead and other metals remain in the soil from the former Everett Smelter, which closed in 1912. Cleanup of the area is being paid for through a $188 million bankruptcy settlement in 2009 with Asarco Inc.
The soil will be replaced and sod will be planted in the park, which is expected to re-open in the spring, Bommarito said.
Cleanup work on the park originally was scheduled to begin last summer but was halted over a controversial plan to remove most of the park’s trees. This year’s work involves setting up protection zones around the trees, she said.
The nearby golf course will not be affected by the cleanup.
Legion Park’s cleanup is part of an ongoing work in the area that first began with soil removal from north Everett homes in the late 1990s. So far, contaminated soil has been removed from about 280 homes, Bommarito said. Next month, cleanup work will start on 22 proprieties along 5th, 6th and 7th streets between Wayne and Waverly avenues north of Broadway.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com
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