Phase I & II Environmental Site Assessment: Former Citrus Grove

OBJECTIVE

Phase I & II Environmental Site Assessments were requested to support the purchase of a 29-acre, vacant, lakefront property. The site was formerly used for citrus cultivation, which has well-known implications for potential environmental impacts.

PROJECT SCOPE

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) included:

• Review of site physical characteristics.
• Review of reasonably ascertainable historical information and previous environmental reports prepared by others.
• Review of environmental record sources maintained by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies.
• Performance of a site reconnaissance, including a visual inspection of adjacent sites.
• Performance of interviews with local government representatives and with site owners, operators, and managers.

The Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) included:

• Drilling of 33 soil borings to collect and chemically analyze soil samples.

RESULTS

The Phase I ESA revealed one Recognized Environmental Condition (REC) and one Business Environmental Risk (BER) in connection with the site:

• An irrigation well/fill station was identified as a REC, due to the assumed mixing of agricultural chemicals and the potential for release of these chemicals.
• The former usage of the site for citrus groves constituted a BER, since the (assumed) legal application of agricultural chemicals does not constitute a “release to the environment,” and therefore does not constitute a REC.
• Chemical analyses of the soil samples for total arsenic and organochlorine pesticides did not indicate elevated concentrations of these parameters.