Naranja Town Site: Clean Bill Of Health

We have checked and we have found no documented evidence of any form of contamination present on the Naranja Town Site.  We reached our conclusion after reviewing a foot-thick stack of documentation that dated from 1995 to present. The town provided this to us based on our documents request.

We inquired about contamination because one of our readers recalled that the Amphi School District had considered the town site for Ironwood Ridge High School but rejected it.  The reader alleges that they rejected it because of town site contamination.

No Contamination

The town site was acquired by the town in 2000. It was acquired from the State. The land was used by CALMAT of Arizona as a sand and gravel pit until the 1990's. The only environmental problem ever noted was a release of petroleum product in 1995. This was supposedly remediated in 1996.

This contamination occurred south of the asphalt cement tank. Contaminated soil was removed to a depth of 10 feet. The solid was later used in asphalt production. In a memo to town council by then town manager Chuck Sweet of 11-8-99, an environment study commissioned by the town in 2000 found no contamination: "There is no evidence of recognized environmental contaimination, with the exception of some debris." The study was performed by Environmental Consultants, Inc.

The town subsequently commissioned a geophysical study. The study used electromagnets to determine if there were significant buried metals, such as tanks or drums. The study revealed 2 areas where there were two items that could not be identified that showed "anomalies"; that is, areas where there could be significant metal underground.  These were near the asphalt plant, which was in what they called Area C of the grid they had created.  The conclusion of the geophysical study: "It is unlikely that ...numerous buried drums or an underground storage tank is present on the areas surveyed."

After this study, the town literally did some digging, with two digs in Area C. They uncovered nothing. However, we don't know how far down dug or whether they even dug in the area of the two "anomalies."

Area C is the southeast quadrant of the town site, where the new multi-use fields and dog park are going to be built.  We are not sure the exact positioning of the fields in relation to Area C, but we do think that it is the are were the 1994 spill occurred and where the two "anomalies" were found.  Here's a "side-by-side" view:

Oro Valley Is Comfortable

The town is comfortable that all is well environmental-wise at the site.  Misti Nowak, Oro Valley Communications Director, sent us 2 quotes from two separate reports vouching for the "safety" of the site:

• This from Naranja Park Master Plan: “Environmental Site Assessment was prepared for the 170 acre State land parcel. This assessment revealed no evidence of recognized environmental conditions associated with the previous onsite land and gravel extraction operation and asphalt mixing plant.” 
• This is from the   State Land Department Reclamation Closure Report: “Based upon this review, the Department has determined that the reclamation work performed by Vulcan satisfies the Department’s reclamation requirements.”

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