East Gainesville Depot Park Project

Overview

A US EPA Brownfields -Assessment Demonstration Pilot

The East Gainesville Depot Park Project is a collaborative effort to cleanup and restore properties known as "brownfields" in the historic heart of Gainesville. A brownfield is an abandoned, idle, or underused industrial or commercial property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. The project ties together environmental restoration, development of rail trails, historic preservation and infrastructure improvements to encourage neighborhood revitalization. The lessons learned can be applied to the cleanup of other brownfields both locally and nationally.

In the early 1900's, when railroads and industry were the mainstays of the economy, Gainesville was a major economic center for North Central Florida. As the City prospered, gas stations, dry cleaners, a manufactured gas plant, and other industries emerged near downtown. Some of these enterprises created environmental problems that are presently barriers to urban redevelopment.

The keystone of the Depot Park Project is the remediation of contaminants left by the former Gainesville Gas Company coal gas plant and turning the rehabilitated area into a stormwater park. Excavation and removal of coal tar will facilitate the creation of a stormwater basin that will capture and treat stormwater originating from downtown. Stormwater treatment will greatly reduce contaminants entering the Alachua Sink in Paynes Prairie that are harmful to wildlife and the Floridan Aquifer. The stormwater basin is also expected to reduce downtown redevelopment costs by preserving scarce land area for business creation, rather than stormwater detention. The hope is that the stormwater park will act as a catalyst for improving public health and safety, encouraging neighborhood revitalization and restoring community pride.

Project Description

A Growing opportunity for Downtown Gainesville

Gainesville is facing the 21st century dealing with the legacy of a 20th century problem -- industrial contamination. The East Gainesville Depot Park Project, coordinated through the Community Redevelopment Agency, aims to cleanup contaminated former-industrial properties and promote sustainable, long-term economic development.

The Depot Park Project is a collaborative effort to clean up sites known as "brownfields" in south downtown Gainesville and restore them to productive use. A brownfield is an abandoned, idle, or underused industrial or commercial property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Citizens, government agencies, local government leaders, and businesses are helping the effort.

The contamination consists of gasoline and drycleaning solvents in groundwater along South Main Street and coal tar behind the old train depot. A coal gasification plant operating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries produced coal tar as a byproduct of making gas for lighting and heating. The Depot Park Project focuses on several objectives:

• Clean up a former manufactured gas plant site
• Create a stormwater park
• Identify additional brownfields in the downtown area
• Increase opportunities for business development, recreation, and historic preservation
• Help reduce urban sprawl by creating redevelopment opportunities

The centerpiece of the project is a centrally located stormwater park near Depot Avenue and Main Street. The initial concept for the park envisions walking paths, boardwalks, interpretive exhibits, and native vegetation to recreate a natural North Florida wetland landscape. Ponds on the park site will naturally treat stormwater and reduce contaminants entering Paynes Prairie. The stormwater facility will reduce downtown redevelopment costs by preserving limited land area for business expansion rather than for individual stormwater detention facilities.

Gainesville's Environmental Consultants and Technology will begin developing the cleanup strategy and designing the multi-million dollar park in 2000. The scope of work includes a remedial action plan for the offsite coal tar impacts and construction documents for the remediation and park construction. Buffington Associates P.A. is the project landscape architect.

With environmental contamination no longer impacting the neighborhood, revitalization will have a better chance of succeeding. Already, several projects foreshadow a sustainable future for the Depot Neighborhood. These projects include:

Area Map

• Renovation of the old train depot
• The Downtown Connector and 6th St. Rail-Trail links to the
• Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
• New RTS Multi-Modal Transit Center
• GRU Kelly Plant repowering project
• Former-Gainesville Gas Company site remediation (Poole Roofing Company site)
• Depot Avenue repaving
• Rail Trail information kiosk
• Depot Neighborhood Eco-Development Project (UF Center for Construction & Environment)

Over the next several years, the Depot Avenue neighborhood will undergo a resurgence that has not been witnessed since the height of the city's industrial era nearly a century ago.