Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment for Marwayne's Downtown Revitalization Project Area

The Village of Marwayne, Alberta, will conduct a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) on a vacant downtown lot to determine the best option to bring it back into economically productive use. This small community, some 240 km east of Edmonton, has growth potential from agricultural production and oil and gas exploration. This initiative is part of an integrated and sustainable vision for the village and a future revitalized downtown core. Centrally situated on Main Street, the 6,000-square-foot lot is a vacant former gas station site that offers potential for remediation and future redevelopment. It will undergo a Phase II ESA to determine the extent of possible contamination from past use. Activities will include drilling boreholes, collecting and analyzing soil and groundwater samples, field screening and groundwater monitoring. The Phase II ESA will recommend remediation techniques and risk management options, if required. Knowing the extent of the site’s contamination will allow the municipal council to make the appropriate decisions to ensure the health and safety of an adjacent residential area and the community as a whole. The results and recommendations will also help the village to decide on how to proceed with the site, such as finding a suitable interim land use during remediation or to clean up the site immediately and sell the land for business redevelopment. As a small municipality with limited resources, Marwayne will take advantage of their consultant's cross-country multidisciplinary team. The information gathered from the site assessment will be used to guide other aspects of the planned downtown revitalization. Marwayne will also consider new remediation technologies that could be showcased as part of knowledge-sharing initiatives with other municipalities. (Project description from original funding application)