Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 10/2/2018 - P14
Special Bd. of Aldermen — 10/26/15 Page 14
President McCarthy
| know that not everybody on the Board has been at all of the meetings and there is a $25 million cost
differential there that we are talking about.
Alderwoman Kelly
If you were going to remove it would only be on Mohawk is that correct? So if we went to full remediation it
would not include those other two sites that you were talking about?
Mr. Millan-Ramos If we did not have a developer on board to do it ourselves, the only thing we can touch is
the Mohawk Tannery site. The way that we see it that if for whatever reason we proceed that way, we would
clean the property, but the property would not be as conducive to redevelopment if the other adjoining
properties are addressed. So that’s why we say we have a unique opportunity here in front of us to make sure
the site is cleaned up, to make sure that the site is conducive to redevelopment and to make sure that this
costs the taxpayer the minimal amount of money possible; given that the developer is willing to put the bulk of
the funds that are needed.
Alderwoman Kelly
So would it be fair to say that that cost is actually almost $10 million dollars more because you said removing
Fimbel was $6.5 million plus the other site plus the cost if you were going to do the whole space, is that about
right?
Ms. Taylor Right.
Mr. Millan-Ramos It sounds right.
Ms. Taylor Yes our estimates that we have in our engineering evaluation and cost analysis did not include
either off site excavation or containment for Fimbel Door sludge or the City asbestos because we were only
dealing with what was present at the Mohawk property. So any additional cost associated with any of that is
going to be borne by the developer and would be in addition to what these costs are here. So it would be in
addition to the $32 million.
Alderman Dowd
So we have addressed these costs and | think you elaborated the additional costs for the other two sites. Can
you just tell us and those who have been at previous hearings probably know the answer, but who is picking up
which percentage of those costs? If we don’t do this, and this has to go into the Superfund pot that could take
years and years before you ever get federal funding, who would pick that up. And the other part of the
question is when you come to a final decision on how you are going to proceed, who gets a vote? That’s not to
mean that we are looking for a vote, because | don’t think we have a vote. Who is going to make the
determination as to how you proceed and give the go ahead for the developer to start?
Ms. Taylor Well perhaps | can answer the last question first. It is clear to us, it is critical that the City buy into
this idea because as you may or may not know, there is going to be some zoning changes that are needed,
there potentially as far as | understand the developer may need a TIF, which is a Tax Increment Financing, the
property may need to be subdivided so there are a number of things that the Aldermen would need to approve
in order to move forward. So it is critical that the Aldermen are on board with that. That said, it really is EPA’s
final decision as to what happens at the site in terms of the clean-up. That is what the regulations say.
