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Tropicana Field Redevelopment Critics Fear Costly Cleanup
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Published: March 26, 2008
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ST. PETERSBURG -- Opponents of the Tampa Bay Rays' proposed downtown ballpark are questioning whether contaminated soil that lies below the surface of Tropicana Field will leave taxpayers stuck with paying millions to clean up the 86-acre site if redeveloped.
Members of the anti-stadium group Preserve Our Wallets and Waterfront voiced concerns at a news conference today about the unknown cost of environmental testing and cleanup remediation if the site is transformed into a major mixed-use project with thousands of residences.
The city last week received redevelopment proposals from three national developers, two of whom have specified that any environmental mitigation needed would be at the city's expense.
"Because of the nature of cleanup and remediation, you really don't know what it's going to cost and what it's going to entail until you get into it and start doing it," said Niel Allen, a local Realtor and member of POWW. "It would be tantamount to writing a blank check."
He said it would be irresponsible for the city to authorize a November referendum on a new downtown waterfront ballpark without knowing what that cost would be.
The Rays are counting on money from the sale and redevelopment of Tropicana Field to pay for most of the $450 million cost of a new ballpark the team wants to build at the spring training site of Progress Energy Park: Home of Al Lang Field by 2012.
Tropicana Field once was the site of a coal gasification plant that operated from 1914 to 1962. The site received a $7 million cleanup before the then-Florida Suncoast Dome was built in the late 1980s. Nearly 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed and disposed of.
More soil tainted by a layer of coal tar 13 feet below the surface was removed when the stadium underwent renovations for the arrival of Major League Baseball in 1998.
St. Petersburg Internal Services Administrator Mike Connors said the city is aware of only a "modest" amount of contaminated soil remaining on the stadium grounds east of Booker Creek, encapsulated by asphalt parking lots.
Monitoring wells have shown the contaminants have remained stationary and have not leached into groundwater and pose no harm to the public or the environment, Connors said.
"I think it's a wonderful site for redevelopment opportunities," Connors said. "I would be genuinely surprised if this relatively minuscule amount of volatile organics would be cause for any concern in developing that site."
Connors said he didn't consider any environmental mitigation that would be performed by the city "as anything onerous to this government."
The issue may arise when the city council is briefed on the redevelopment proposals at a 2 p.m. workshop Thursday. Representatives of the three developers will be on hand. They are Houston-based Hines Interests, Archstone-Madison of Arlington, Va., and Williams Quarter of Tampa and Nashville, a group that includes DeBartolo Holdings of Tampa.
Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( McX ) on March 26, 2008 at 8:29 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Perhaps this may explain why the "Ray's" do not seem to be a winning team?
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Posted by ( 1madvet ) on March 26, 2008 at 9:46 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Soooo.... no body wants to build a new stadium but we are already preparing to clean up the old mess. Intersting.
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Posted by ( cadillacman ) on March 27, 2008 at 12:26 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
ALL OF THE CITY GOVT AND MAYOR WHO LINED THEIR POCKETS WHEN THE DOME WAS BUILT THE FIRST TIME ARE OUT OF THAT MONEY SO THEY WANT MORE?
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