Clarence Jensen

Environmental factors are extremely important in new developments. There are a number of important details that all developers should be aware of before developing a property. The first item is the history of the area. Has there been any gas stations, dry cleaners, underground oil tanks, and other businesses that may affect your property? Most financial institutions ask for environmental clearance from engineering firms before they consider lending any funds. In our particular case, there was an adjacent old dry cleaner on McCallum road.

Our next task was to hire an Environmental engineering firm to do the first step of a Level 1 environmental inspection. This covers a physical scan of the property and the building(s) along with an area view. This is followed by an historical study of the buildings use and businesses in the area and their activities. The approximate cost of this study is $2,500.00. Generally this will suffice but in our case the presence of a possible environmental area contamination there is a requirement for a Level 2 inspection. The cost of this examination will be at least $25,000.00 with possible extra cleanup costs.

The required testing has a drilling machine to bore a series of holes on the property to draw core soil samples to suitable depths and discover the water tables. Every 5 foot sample is visually examined, sniff tested, and samples are taken to be tested and reviewed by a government certified environmental laboratory. This usually takes about a week. Next, is the installation of piezometers. They are set at water levels to measure the amount of water and allow water samples to be taken over a short period of time. The lab will test the samples for quality and any possible contaminants. The water testing is more important than the soils test because the water spreads through the whole area. Are you comforted by the fact that this testing is done before you buy a unit of this building?