Next steps for site preparation at the Coleman Industrial Site in Danville will include soil testing and efforts to mitigate wetland impact. The city’s Industrial Development Authority will hear presentations on these plans and consider proposed contracts at its regular meeting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The city has received proposed contracts for two types of environmental work: geotechnical testing, which is an evaluation of the soil, and wetland impact mitigation.
The Coleman Site, acquired by the IDA in 2011, covers 158 acres near Danville’s Goodyear plant.
It has access to major highways and utility infrastructure, but the site has been passed over by potential projects “due to lack of site readiness, particularly the absence of a graded pad,” said the staff report included in a July city council meeting agenda packet.
Before grading begins, the city plans to conduct the soil and wetland work.
Lynchburg-based civil engineering firm Hurt & Profitt has submitted a scope of work and cost proposal to the city for additional geotechnical testing at the site.
“The work will include additional soil borings to confirm rock elevations, helping to prevent unforeseen challenges during site grading by the IDA,” says the staff report in the meeting’s agenda packet.
The work could cost up to about $30,000, according to the proposed contract in the agenda packet.
The company plans to drill 30 borings ranging in depth from 20 to 40 feet, take soil samples at specific intervals, send the samples to a laboratory for testing and then backfill the borings, according to the proposed contract.
The city has also received a contract proposal from Resource Environmental Solutions, an environmental consultant based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
RES plans to generate stream credits and wetland credits, which are units of ecological value meant to compensate for inevitable environmental impacts during development.
The Department of Environmental Quality is requiring these mitigation efforts before granting a permit to grade an 80-acre pad at the Coleman Site, according to the staff report.
Stream and wetland credits are created by mitigation banks, or protected properties that restore or enhance streams and wetlands.
Credits are often created in advance of development by specialized companies like RES, and then developers purchase the credits to offset their environmental damage.
The proposed contract with RES outlines the creation of stream and wetland credits through securing mitigation areas. RES would manage the full process, which includes land acquisition, design, permitting, construction, monitoring and long-term stewardship of the mitigation areas.
Funding for the contract — $2.5 million — will come from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Grant and the Tobacco Commission Grant awarded to this project, according to the staff report.
Also this week, the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Development Authority will meet at noon Monday, the city’s planning commission will meet at 2 p.m. Monday and the Pittsylvania County Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 6 p.m. Monday.
The Danville Airport Commission will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday and the River District Design Commission will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday.
