Redevelopment of Cytec Lands for the City of Niagara Falls

In partnership with the City of Niagara Falls, Falls Community Development Inc. (1939522 Ontario Limited) will conduct a phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) on a 77 acre piece of land that is part of a larger industrial area adjacent to downtown. The site has a history of chemical manufacturing, dating back to the early 1900s, and was left vacant after Cytec operations were shut down in 1992. It has remained largely undeveloped and includes a railway spur and a possible storm water management pond. In 2014, the City commissioned a road extension bisecting the site which improves accessibility and redevelopment potential. The site is identified as a priority area in the city's Brownfield Community Improvement Plan, which contains tax incentives for redevelopment, and is slated for light industrial and/or employment usage. The feasibility study will determine the nature and extent of environmental contamination to groundwater and soil on the site in order to support the filing of a Record of Site Condition. The phase II ESA will include a review of the site history, subsurface investigations to identify soil and groundwater contamination, laboratory analysis of the findings, and preparation of a detailed phase II ESA report. It will also include the preparation of a risk assessment report and risk management plan, with public consultation on the strategy and a report to the municipal council. As proposed in the preliminary proposal, environmental consultants will dig eight shallow boreholes and ten shallow test pits on the site, as well as two deeper monitoring well to test groundwater and soil vapours. Areas of environmental concerns identified on site include imported fill material, industrial waste make of coke, lime, and calcium cyanimide, rail spur lines used to transport waste, a historical coal gasification plant, a stormwater management pond which may have help process cooling water from the Cytec plant, and underground storage tanks located in close proximity to the site. Probable contamination includes volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, metals and inorganic compounds. (Project description from original funding application)