Environmental services are integral to the building boom in the Bay Area. Pangea helps investors and developers purchase and construct residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects in urban areas with subsurface chemical impact.
Development projects are typically fast-paced and dynamic endeavors, well-suited to the flexibility and responsiveness provided by our small niche firm. These projects can span the full range of our services, involving assessment, remediation, soil and groundwater management, waste coordination, engineering controls, vapor intrusion mitigation, long-term operation and maintenance, and case closure assistance.
Before and after: A development site in Oakland, CA.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Development projects can require a range of services, depending on site conditions, client requirements, and agency oversight. Pangea helps clients avoid unexpectedly high soil disposal costs (e.g., from lead impact) or environmental compliance (e.g., from discovered contamination requiring removal and vapor intrusion mitigation). Recently, California regulatory agencies have increased requirements for development projects to further safeguard public health and future site occupants. Planning and documentation requirements now pertain to dust control, vapor intrusion mitigation, clean fill import, proper waste disposal, health and safety, waste handling, soil and groundwater management, etc. Some development sites require the minimum, such as soil disposal assistance. Others, however, require the full range of plans and documentation of extensive remediation. Pangea can help with all of it!
We frequently support developers with:
- Due diligence, Phase I & II assessment, and transaction assistance
- Soil disposal coordination and disposal cost estimation
- Soil and fill material import profiling and documentation
- Soil and groundwater management and documentation for lenders and agencies
- Dust control plan preparation and monitoring
- Clean corridor installation for EBMUD underground utilities
- Site assessment and soil remediation, if necessary
- Encapsulation of lead or other impacted soil
- UST removal and State Cleanup Fund reimbursement for Petroleum Hydrocarbons
- SCAP Funding for cleanup of solvent and non-petroleum contamination
- Vapor intrusion mitigation system design, installation oversight, testing and reporting.
- Indoor air testing to facilitate agency concurrence for occupany
- Long-term O&M coordination
COMMON DEVELOPMENT-RELATED ASSISTANCE
Excavation is commonly used to quickly remove site contamination and reduce future vapor intrusion or direct exposure concerns for construction workers or occupants.
Demarcation fabric is used to indicate the boundary between deeper native or contaminated soil from clean imported material (‘clean cap’), and for ‘clean corridors’ required for EBMUD utility installation.
Dust monitoring can include stationary equipment for continuous monitoring and data logging and portable meters to comply with BAAQMD guidelines and local agency requirements.
SAMPLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
A former gas station in Oakland, CA — now an assisted living facility.
A former dry cleaner with RCRA hazardous lead in Oakland, CA — now a residential building.
A former gas station in San Francisco, CA — now a mixed-use building project in progress.