OGDEN -- Additional soil and groundwater tests may be needed before Ogden can begin construction of an $18.5 million high-adventure recreation center proposed for the downtown mall site.
Results from two rounds of tests conducted by the city indicate the presence of petroleum and tetrachloroethyline, a solvent, in soil and groundwater at the mall site. The test results have been forwarded to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The city is seeking a letter from DEQ assuring one of the institutions involved in financing the recreation center, GE Commercial Finance, that the petroleum and tetrachloroethyline pose no liability. The rec center building would be collateral for $8.9 million in bonds.
DEQ environmental scientist Mark Crim said Thursday he has conducted a "frontline" review of the test results and forwarded them to two other offices within his agency for further analysis.
"First off, there needs to be a more comprehensive definition of the contamination," Crim said. "I'm suggesting that the two other entities that will review it beyond me may request additional subsurface studies."
Crim said he does not know when the current analysis will be complete, or how long it would take to conduct additional studies if necessary.
If the city does not get the matter resolved soon, it could see further increases in the estimated cost of the recreation center.
It goes without saying that increasing project costs are becoming more than a minor problem, but that isn't stopping Ogden City officials from maintaining a strong-willed and optimistic attitude.
Despite continued delays -- the City Council initially approved it last December -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he is not about to give up on the recreation center.
"The rec center is absolutely critical for the mall project, so for me to throw my hands up ... would be foolish," Godfrey said. "It's not a question of it being too hard or too difficult or anything like that. We've got to do it."
The general contractor for the recreation center, Ogden-based R&O Construction, reportedly has guaranteed current construction cost estimates only through the end of the month.
However, David Harmer, Ogden community and economic development director, said he does not believe the city is in "imminent danger" of another increase.
"We had talked about Sept. 1, but I think things are holding OK," he said.
It may well be that Mayor Godfrey and Dave Harmer are disciples of the great Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill... or Adam Sandler's "Happy Gilmore" perhaps, as advocated by one web "advice" source:
You may call me crazy. but it's true.
When I recently saw one of my favorite movies, "Happy Gilmore" starring Adam Sandler, I realized that this movie has an extremely important success principle that you should know about to achieve success in the new year.
Let me explain:
In the movie, the main character, Happy, can't find a stable job and can't seem to make his dream of playing hockey come true.
..And after Happy fails to make the hockey team for the 11th time, his girlfriend gets fed up and leaves him...in other words, his life seems like a complete failure.
Then his life turns around when he makes a very important promise to his Grandmother and himself that he will get her house back from the government, which may be auctioned off unless Happy comes up with $270,000 in 90 days.
So, what does this have to do with success?
You see, soon after he made that promise to his grandmother, he realized that he had an amazing talent to drive a golf ball, which he developed as a hockey player.
..And by stating his desire to make enough money to get his grandmother's house back, new solutions began to appear that would have otherwise gone by unnoticed.
Do you have any hidden opportunities around you? You'll only find them if you make it known to yourself and to others what you are looking for.
Once Happy becomes a professional golfer and starts taking home big checks, the antagonist 'Shooter McGavin' hires a man to intimidate Happy while he is golfing, so he will not win the championship.
This strategy of intimidation takes its toll on Happy, and Happy's game falls apart because his mind becomes clouded with self-doubt and intense irritation.
Although it looks as if Happy won't get the house back after all, Happy's strong desire to accomplish his promise and goal attracts a mentor to him who recognizes Happy's skill and determination to succeed.
His mentor, Chubbs, teaches him how to overcome his mental obstacles and this is what he says:
"Happy, go to your happy place. Picture what you really want and go there." When happy does this he pictures his grandmother winning the lottery, a new girlfriend, and other pictures of his most wildest and successful dreams.
With this picture in his mind Happy easily overcomes all obstacles with confidence and defeats "Shooter Mcgavin" in a stunning victory to win his grandmother's house back.
So, here's the success principle that you can use to bring the success you desire in the new year. I like to call it:
The "Happy Place" Success Principle - Once you've decided what you want picture yourself there. I like to call this your "Happy Place." By picturing your "happy place" doubt and fear will disappear because you are certain of what you want and your mind will become clear...
I prefer to call it the Jiminy Cricket syndrome myself -— the idea that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.
Whatever you wish to call it, though, you have to award our Ogden City officials a few bonus points for their sheer determination, right? Lesser mortals probably would have thrown in the towel quite a while ago.
And what say our gentle Weber County Forum readers about this?
14 comments:
"It isn't a plume, or anything." Remember that? Godfrey's dismissive quote as to the problem and potential of hazardous contaminants? Seems that GE and the other financial folks are concerned. And they're the guys with the money. And the R & O contract EXPIRES shortly....do we really think that the costs are holding true and strong, as Harmer suggests? Hell no they aren't. Gasoline effects everything and it will effect this project. Costs have risen and will continue to rise, yet these two, and Jorgenson, Safsten, et al, just minimize things, spin the reality to fit their needs and ego, and go merrily about there way, whistling in the wind. Time for another verse from Jed Clampett.
And why not? All they need to do is pass another loan for increases (found it interesting that last week's $2 1/2 million dollar baby went to gym equipment instead of the job increases they led us to believe it would go to-but what the hey, the Iron 5 will vote any way the Mayor wants) and the cost will zoom into the $20 mil category.
The way the Mayor, Harmer and Council spins it, all is rosey and there's no need to worry. They'll get a letter from someone to someone to appease everyone's concerns. But not our's, gentle readers. I just don't like the way they mislead through spin. Do you?
The City is in trouble and a change is so very, very necessary.
This is what happens when the novices take over the asylum....costs and delays. This bunch doesn't know what the hell they're doing.
First, they buy the mall; then they tear it down; now they're attempting to develop it, without a basic, every day realtor on board. Would they have had a realtor in the first place, they might have understood what "Buyer's Due Dilengence" is and they would have conducted tests of their own and found the oil, then hopefully leaving the mall in the hands of the previous owner. But no, the City now owns it, from the beat up parking garage along Grant to the contaminated dirt and also the debt.
What we have is a capital "T," that stands for "TROUBLE," right here in River City. Way to go, Gang of 6....$20 million dollars for a lot full of dirty dirt that ya can't even build on until it's cleaned up. And now they're too damned busy to even look at an offer from the Church of the Good Shepard.
Hear, hear, ROD: if the Gang o' Six were lawyers, we would've fired their asses and sued them for malpractice months ago. The negligence and snafus that have held up the Wreck Center bespeak a numbing incompetence. How many more terms will we tolerate this?
Not many, I hope....I know this: If I ran my business the way this bunch runs the City, I'd be fired or broke, one of the two.
We need to fire them all, fire hydrant colors or not!
Hey, ROD the board of realtors is donating 5k to lift ogden from your rpac donations. Thanks man, we really appreciate it.
Has it occurred to anyone at all in charge of this mall site development that the Children's Treehouse Museum was being erected on a possibly toxic site, and only stalled because of the steel shortage problem?
This I find kind of scary. How were they able to start building without first ascertaining that the site was free of contamination? Aren't there steps that have to be gone through, or not?
Those are sincere questions there--I really don't know how that process works. Does anyone?
I'm pretty sure that soil tests were done on the Treehouse site. I've said it before, contamination on construction sites is not an uncommon thing. I believe that Costco in South Ogden had earth problems. Sometimes it is arsenik (sp?) or more dangerous things. It all just depends on the levels of contamination.
Realtors rock, dude! Too bad the City Administration doesn't have a "realtor on deck" to show 'em the way.
Hope we can help the cause.
Dian, Utmormon, there is a process that "should" be addressed and adhered to "prior" to buying and or building. It's called "Due Dilegence." Due Diligence is the buyer/builder's responsibility and safety net that allows that principal to proceed with knowledge toward the goal. There is an alloted time for Inspections & Evaluations, and if a problem turns up, then the Buyer and Seller get together and work it out before "Closing." If it can't be worked out, the Buyer walks, with no liquidated damages (in other words, he gets his earnest money back).
If one buys the offered property, like the City did, and failed to make any tests, etc., and did not address any disputes or findings, and Closed the transaction, the Buyer then owns it all, including the contaminants. I'm afraid that this is what's happened with the mall site: Godfrey just bought the whole place, lock, stock and barrel.
As Utmo says, it is not uncommon to find contaminants on land parcels, especially where buildings and businesses were located in the past. But one shouldn't be too cavalier about it. It takes time and money to fix. Often times, LOTS of time and money.
I'm not sure that Ogden City has much of either.
Thanks, r o d (2).
From what you're saying here, due diligence is a responsibility of the buyer, but not a legal obligation?
If no tests were done at the time the city purchased the mall from the Whichards, then the Whichards are not responsible or accountable for this, nor are any of the previous owners, it seems.
Furthermore, it doesn't sound like the city, if it didn't perform tests at the time of sale, would have performed them before construction of the Children's Museum. From what you say, this is not the responsibility of the contractor or anything.
Well. It seems there would be laws now that would make this testing mandatory since it is such a concern, but maybe not. Otherwise, people would be building on toxic sites right and left. Do they only test if someone challenges them? That's what it's looking like--that if one has the money, one can go build something on a contaminated site unless challenged.
I was reading about this tetrachloroethylene. It is a dry-cleaning solvent, mainly, but is also used in degreasing metal. In tests, it has a host of nasty effects, such as liver and kidney damage, neurological damage, dizziness, respiratory irritation, at the very least. I am wondering if it is blowing around down there. I guess it could have come from the old newspaper building---maybe they used it to clean the presses.
The responsibility does rest in the buyer/builder's hands. However, various municple and other inspections are usually conducted (EPA, Gov't Agencies, and so forth) to ensure the safety of the people. Hard to say what the process with the Treehouse was or if and when such evaluations occured. But the professionals always insist on some testing, just to be sure. If GE just ponied up the money, the City built the rec center, then a problem arose with these contaminants, who carries the load? Who'se responsibile? It can be a disaster. Smart people do smart things, and in today's world, YOU TEST!
Funny thing about contaminants....they spead and osmosize through the ground. A gas station might have the gasolione that seeped through underground fuel tanks, travel for hundreds of feet or yards, get into the aquafiers, etc., and the clean-up cost can be immense. Godfrey doesn't seem concerned, nor does Harmer or most of the others in charge, even to the point that they're attempting to get some Inspection Agency to write GE a letter telling them that there's really "no problem." The old ostritch head in the sand mentality....if you don't see it, it ain't there. And Godfreys lackeys just go right along with him, set in stone, full speed ahead, damn the torpedos!
The Ogden Standard Examiner occupied the Kiesel Bldg and the chemicals and inks used in newspaper production are many and some certainly toxic. Spills are common place. Storm drains, sewers and the like were most likely not up to today's standards and leaks that were "swept down the drain" could be one of the reasons that there's contaminants across the street and down the lane.
What is the reach of these contaminants? Is there a "plume?" No one knows, but the money folks are taking no chances and consider this to be a pretty big deal, even is the Administration doesn't.
World and National events will all come into play during delays. This could be a total set-back, and I'm ready to bet a dollar to a doughnut that R & O doesn't stick with the original bid prices. How can they? Material costs are escalting daily.
Somebody really screwed up, and it isn't likely to just go away. Like they say, haste makes waste.
You know, to be honest, had I been in the city's position at the time demolition of the mall was being discussed, it would not have occurred to me that demolition might expose contaminants. It just wouldn't have, unless I had been advised by someone that the way things have to be done nowadays for everyone's safety is to have these tests done.
I went to a couple of town meetings about the mall issue, and heard quite a few arguments in favor of or against demolition, but I never heard anybody say--"Careful, you don't know what's under it!"
Did anyone?
Knowing what we know now, that due diligence should have been exercised at the beginning, the fact that Ogden City has been buying land all over the place for various projects, comes to mind, and one wonders if this is the first time the contaminant issue has come up.
Seems like it might be clean-up time in a big way.
Unless we all get word tomorrow morning that a bit of tetrachloroethylene and petroleum is really of no consequence, and the project is a go.
That would be something.
Thus the case that the City shouldn't be doing what it's trying to do....do big time development. They should let Donald Trump do it, instead of pretending to be him. It's obvious by the 9 delays and cost over-runs that they don't know the intracacies of development. $20 mil so far, $20 mil to go, and they haven't laid a brick.
So much for their abilities.
I wonder why Harmer doesn't think the city is in "imminent danger" of another price increase. Does this guy drive a car? Has he noticed gas prices? Would that possibly cause a price increase here, as materials need to be shipped in, now at a greater cost? Raw goods going to Iraq and now to our Gulf Coast, the old "supply and demand" rule we all learned in basic Econ 101 in high school?
It's this attitude of "all's just peachy," when it isn't, that so bother me with this administration and council. It's as if reality is fictional, not applying to our town. And that attitude, that is fostered on we the people, is prevelant in the way these guys do business and it shows. Not much they come up with seems to work. And when the sh-- hits the fan, the either can't smell it or won't admit it. Therefore, there;s no problem and no "fix."
But there is a problem and that's why the problems keep coming and growing.
A change is needed, and this year's "off year election" can't come soon enough.
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