Investment in environmental cleanup and public infrastructure does not always have immediate payoffs. But with careful long-term planning, Stockton, Calif. has transformed its formally blighted waterfront into a recreational and entertainment destination and positively positioned itself for the future.

After 15 years of planning and over $200 million of investment, the downtown waterfront in Stockton, has been transformed from a blighted and contaminated industrial area into revitalized public spaces. The cornerstone project of the revitalization program is the recently completed Stockton Event Center Project, winner of the 2008 US EPA Region 9 Phoenix Award. The City of Stockton has undertaken one of the more ambitious and successful Brownfields planning, cleanup, and rebuilding programs of any mid-size American city, but it has not been without its challenges.

Reclaiming the Waterfront
The waterfront revitalization plans of the Stockton Redevelopment Agency received a big boost starting back in 1996 when the Agency was awarded a $200,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This was followed up with a supplemental Brownfields Assessment Grant in 2001. The assessment work identified 28 areas along the waterfront for re-development, and helped gather the information needed to evaluate redevelopment options and prioritize land acquisitions.

Today, most of the contaminated sites owned by the Agency, and many of the privately owned ones identified in the Brownfield Assessment process, have been or are being cleaned up. Significant waterfront public benefit projects completed by the Agency include:

• Weber Point Event Center, completed in 1999;
• Dean DeCarli Waterfront Plaza completed in 2001 (Phoenix Award recipient in 2002);
• Stockton Event Center, completed in 2007 (Phoenix Award recipient in 2008);
• Morelli Boat Launch completed in 2009; and
• Downtown Marina completed in 2009.

Connecting these attractions with each other and the Downtown Area is the waterfront promenade, a paved and green space walkway providing public access to the formerly industrial waterfront.

Characterization and Cleanup
The Stockton Events Center was envisioned as the cornerstone of the waterfront revitalization program. A 25-acre $175-million waterfront complex includes: an indoor arena to host conventions, professional hockey and arena football teams; a baseball park for the Stockton Ports; a hotel with upper floor condominiums and retail spaces.

The previous uses of the proposed Stockton Events Center site included shipyard, steel fabrication, rail spurs, an auto dealership, auto service centers, and machine shops, and contaminants were present across the site exceeding regulatory agency screening levels for commercial/industrial uses. The environmental assessment process identified multiple point source releases and wide-spread metals and petroleum impacts in soil, and four distinct groundwater plumes at the site.

To help overcome these challenges, the Agency assembled a team that included Bill Brown, an attorney with the law firm Brown & Winters, to assist in recovering cleanup money from the responsible parties and their insurance companies, and the environmental and geotechnical engineering firm of Treadwell & Rollo, Inc. to evaluate the extent of the impacts, negotiate with regulatory agencies, and develop and implement the Site Remedial Action Plan (RAP). Additionally, the Agency entered into the voluntary cleanup program with the California Dept. of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC), designating them as the lead regulatory agency.

The environmental assessment of the site started as far back as 1992 and was completed in 2003 when the final RAP was issued. A plan involving focused excavation and disposal of soil "hot spots" was selected as the soil remedy in the RAP. In December 2003, over 120 groundwater monitoring and remediation wells were abandoned at the site prior to beginning the remediation. In January, 2004 the building demolition and soil remediation began, which allowed access to source areas of groundwater contamination, enabling several deep excavations to be conducted that removed contaminated soil and free-phase (floating) gasoline and diesel from the groundwater.

A risk assessment was conducted to develop site-specific cleanup goals protective of human health, based on the proposed recreational site uses. One Events Center parcel was designated for sale to a private party for development as a hotel and condominium complex, and this parcel was remediated to stricter residential criteria because of the proposed residential use. The flexibility to conduct the cleanup to match the proposed uses of separate parcels within the development was an important step to developing and conducting a remediation plan that was both protective of human health and cost effective.

To minimize costs and potential disruption to the construction schedule, the remediation was performed during the same mobilization as the construction, using the same general contractor. The focused soil excavation and confirmation sampling program was organized to first clear areas needed for construction, and enable a phased withdrawal of the remediation crews with a corresponding ramping up of construction.

Impact on the community
Stockton's completed Events Center complex is now a regional destination for entertainment and recreation. The Agency has estimated that nearly 600 on-site jobs have been created to support Events Center activities, and many more jobs have been created and revenue increased for nearby businesses.

The Agency also estimated that more than $500 million in new public and private investment has occurred on the Waterfront and downtown revitalization areas since 1999. Additionally, for the first time in almost a century, planning is underway for new market-rate housing in the downtown area.

Funds for the work have come from a variety of sources, including legal settlements from parties responsible for the historic contamination, bonding, tax assessments, HUD 108 ED loans and BEDI grants, public-private partnerships and the city. The significant public investment required has not been without its critics, and this is especially true now that the current economic climate has reduced revenue from the new facilities, and slowed development of adjacent properties that were expected to bring in tax revenue and money from property sales.

However, even as Stockton has been in the national news as one of our nation's cities hardest hit by the housing crisis, the waterfront revitalization project continues to be a catalyst for additional cleanup and re-development that otherwise would not likely of occurred. The city hired Ava Langston-Kenney as its Brownfields Program Coordinator in 2007. Under her oversight, millions of dollars were invested in 2008 and 2009 on the opposite side of the channel from the Events Center to remediate contaminated land, and to prepare city-owned parcels for new, privately funded development.

Over the last 10 years the landscape of downtown Stockton has changed dramatically. The city has planned and orchestrated this redevelopment, and has invested significant public funds to purchase and remediate contaminated land and build public parks and facilities. The payoff for these environmental cleanup and public infrastructure investments indeed is not one that's immediate. But the careful long-term planning that has occurred has helped transform its waterfront into a viable recreational and entertainment destination. Stockton is well-positioned for the future.

The focused soil excavation and confirmation sampling program was organized to first clear areas needed for construction, and enable a phased withdrawal of the remediation crews with a corresponding ramping up of construction.

The Stockton Events Center includes the new Banner Island Ballpark, at the same location where the Banner Island Baseball Grounds was in the 1880s, when Ernest Thayer, a sports writer for a local paper wrote the famous poem Casey at the Bat.

The Agency has estimated that over $500 million in new public and private investment has occurred on the Waterfront and downtown revitalization areas since 1999. The complex is now a regional destination for entertainment and recreation.

David Dixon is a Senior Associate with Treadwell & Rollo, Inc. in San Francisco, Calif., where he manages Brownfield redevelopment projects, including the Stockton Events Center project. Please visit www.treadwellrollo.com for more information.