City Accepts Donation of Clinton Engines Property

8-23-01

Phase 1 of the Clinton Engines demolition project is progressing slowly, but surely.  

The City acquired ownership of the brownfield site on December 31, 2000.  The City's goal is to clean-up then demolish the buildings on-site over a two-year period in order to redevelop it for future industrial use.

The clean-up and demolition projects will be pursued in two phases over the next two-three years. In Phase 1, the unused eastern portion of the site on the south side of E Maple Street will be addressed. Beginning in 2003, the western portion, or Phase 2, which is currently under use by the remaining core of the Clinton Engines business, will be addressed. 

Except for the removal of one underground storage tank, the environmental clean-up for this segment of the project has been completed.  The tank has not been removed yet because it does not contain old fuel as had been originally believed.  The substance in the tank appears to contain a high level of PCBs and requires further testing to determine the best options for disposal.

Currently, 85% of the Phase 1 demolition activities have been completed with the most notable pending activity being the removal of about 95% of the concrete floors.  Except for the area affected by the last underground storage tank, the demolition activities under Phase 1 are scheduled to completed by September 30, 2001.

Phase 2 of the project is expected to begin sometime after January 1, 2003.  This phase will involve the environmental clean-up and demolition of the western half of the building complex, along with the separately standing administration building.

In the time between now and the beginning of 2003, the western portion of the property is being leased from the City to CEPCO, which is the company that acquired the rights to operate as "Clinton Engines."  CEPCO is comprised of long-time members of the Clinton Engines family.  The two-year time period is meant to give CEPCO the opportunity to relocate before the western portion of the property is cleaned-up and demolished in Phase 2.

The total estimated clean-up cost of the project over both Phase 1 and Phase 2, including contingencies, is about $675,000. If the cost of the contingencies, or change-orders and other unpredicted events, doesn't occur, the estimated cost of the project becomes $587,000. Of this amount, $315,000 was for the low bid of Environmental Management Services for the environmental clean-up of drums and debris left in the building, and $175,000 was the low bid provided by Lohman Excavation for demolishing the buildings and clearing the site.

Other project costs include the cost of closing and reporting on underground storage tanks, soil and groundwater remediation, and entering into the Iowa DNR's "Land Recycling Program." The DNR's program, if successfully completed, would leave the City with a "no further action" declaration from the State of Iowa which would mean that the site has, in the eyes of the State, been cleaned-up.

The Council's vote to pursue the project was not unanimous. Council member, Alvin Barten, questioned the estimated level of City expense in the project along with the risks associated with having the City being cast in the role of "landlord" to CEPCO for two-years in a setting where the dilapidated buildings and old machinery might pose liability and safety risks for the approximately 15 employees that will continue to work there.  A number of citizens have shared this concern.

In the end, the Council looked at the possibility of three choices for the future of the Clinton Engines property.

First, the City and its citizens could decide that nothing should be done about the site and decide that leaving the property in its current condition is acceptable and should be lived with.

Second, the City could decide to declare the property a nuisance and order the owner to clean the site up on his own. However, the Council discussed, that in all likelihood, the owner would ignore the order, and the City would have to perform the work itself. If this were done, the City would then attach the costs of clean-up and demolition to the property taxes for the site, however, the Council reasoned that it was predictable that the owner would not pay the taxes, and the property would eventually end up in a state of tax-forfeiture with no likely candidates willing to come in and pay-off the delinquent taxes.

Third, the City could decide to accept the property as a donation and spend about the same amount that it would have spent to abate the property under a nuisance action, but, in this scenario, the City would be in control of the property and would be able to try to recruit future industrial prospects to redevelop the site.

After determining that the City had enough cash on-hand in a reserve fund with additional cash payments being repaid to that fund over the next several years, the Council decided to accept the donation and, thereby, control the future use of the property.

For more about the Clinton Engines situation, please "click" on our article, "The History of the Clinton Engines Project," for more details on what has transpired over the last 2 years.