Greg Buckley
It’s been eight years (since 2016) since the City of Two Rivers and Thermo-Fisher, the owner of the former J.E. Hamilton property, reached an agreement that the city would eventually purchase the property.
City Manager Greg Buckley provided an update on WOMT’s ‘Be My Guest” program Wednesday morning.
He says there are concerns about higher than allotted standards of certain chemicals still present in the ground.
“First, TCE (trichloroethylene) was found to exceed DNR standards, and I know that more studies are being done on the nature and extent of any PFAS contamination on the property. They’ve just recently installed additional monitoring wells and continue reporting back to the DNR.”
Buckley adds that, albeit frustrating, it’s in the best interest of the long-term potential development of the riverside property.
“It isn’t just a matter of the city taking it, but then how are banks that might fund projects and future investors going to view any potential liability associated with that environmental history of that property.”
The Two Rivers City Manager didn’t divulge a specific purchase price or lay out a timetable for when the property would change hands but said,
“We (the city) all are frustrated by the lack of progress of owning 12-and-a-half acres of pristine riverfront property where the city needs to pivot towards the future. But we need to protect the taxpayers from any potential future liability that they may be responsible for.”
