Wenatchee City Public Works

The Wenatchee City Public Works site, also known as the 25 N Worthen Street site, is located along the Columbia River waterfront in downtown Wenatchee. The site is bordered by the Pybus Public Market, Riverfront Park, and a municipal wastewater treatment facility. The site covers an area of ~3.3 acres.

The City of Wenatchee operated a public works facility at the site from the 1950s until 2009. The City also operated a landfill adjacent to the site from the 1950s until the 1970s.

The site was included on Ecology's Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List based on a number of reports prepared in 1995, 2000, and 2011. 

In 2009-2011, Ecology provided a Brownfields Integrated Planning Grant to the City of Wenatchee to investigate contamination at the Site and conduct a redevelopment assessment.

Possible sources of contamination included former underground storage tanks, fuel dispenser islands, equipment storage and repair areas, and other past land use predating the City public works yard.

Various contaminants including lead, arsenic, benzene, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) were confirmed to exceed Model Toxic Control Act (MTCA) soil cleanup levels at multiple locations at the site. These hazardous substances may pose a threat to human health and the environment.

Groundwater was not believed to be impacted by releases from the former City public works yard. Groundwater contamination from the Wenatchee City Worthen Street Landfill site has impacted the site.

In March 2014, the City of Wenatchee contracted with an environmental consultant to prepare a focused site assessment which included possible cleanup actions for the site. The preferred cleanup action included capping soil contamination at the site with a new building footprint, parking lot, and landscaping. Following construction of the cap, an environmental covenant was recorded for the property to ensure the cap remains in place. Although not related to the public works facility cleanup site, plans for future development will also include constructing a vapor barrier under any new buildings to mitigate possible vapor intrusion related to the landfill contamination.

In March 2016, the City of Wenatchee was working on redevelopment of the the property.  One of the primary future land uses is for a new hotel. The location is ideal for this given the property’s size, close proximity to Waterfront Park, the Pybus Public Market, the Wenatchee Convention Center, and downtown Wenatchee.

Based upon cleanup activities and the recording of the environmental covenant, Ecology has determined the site is no longer a threat to human health and the environment. Ecology issued a no further action determination in March 2016.