Nisqually Place

Location

Nisqually Place is part of the 1,540-acre Meridian Campus Development in Lacey, Washington. 

History

Nisqually place is located on one 9.82-acre Thurston County parcel. This property was scheduled for future development into single-family houses. Prior to 2021, this Property was undeveloped and forested.

Why did the Property need cleanup?

In 2005, soil testing found the surface soil contaminated with Arsenic.  This contamination is likely a result of air pollution from the former Asarco smelter in Tacoma. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil over more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. The contaminated area is known as the Tacoma Smelter Plume and is managed under the Asarco Tacoma Smelter Site.   Arsenic and lead in soil can cause adverse health effects with long-term exposure. Developers within the Tacoma Smelter Plume are encouraged to cleanup properties within the plume during residential development. Ecology provides free Technical Assistance to developers.

How was the Property cleaned up?

In June 2005, Landau Associates developed a cleanup action plan for the entire Meridian Campus Development.  The cleanup action plan selected soil mixing during development grading activities as a way to remediate the Tacoma Smelter Plume contamination. Ecology agreed with the plan for cleanup and issued an opinion letter in 2006.

In 2021, the developer, SoundBuilt Homes, remediated the Property during its residential development. They removed the contaminated surface soil and placed it in a stockpile. The stockpile was then sampled and reused as fill on the Property.  Mixing contaminated soil with cleaner soil dilutes the concentration of arsenic and lead in the soil. Mixing is typically used when the concentrations of arsenic and lead are below a certain level. In this way, cleanup can be a part of development.  

How do we know if the cleanup was satisfactory?

In 2021, the developer joined the Voluntary Cleanup Program with Ecology, requesting an opinion on the cleanup of the Property.  They provided Ecology with a cleanup report containing the results of the soil sampling after the cleanup.

They sampled the stockpiled soil and the soil under the excavated areas. The arsenic levels met the cleanup standards for unrestricted land use. The soil that was scraped off and stockpiled was sampled using the Tacoma Smelter Model Remedies Guidance. The soil under the excavated areas was also sampled to make sure that the levels of arsenic were below state cleanup standards. Ecology determined that the Property was cleaned to satisfy state requirements and in May 2021, issued a No Further Action determination.  In 2021, SoundBuilt Homes started developing the Nisqually2 Property into a single-family housing development.

For more information about the individual properties click on the Map under the SITE INFORMATION in the upper right corner


Meridian Campus – Springs
Meridian Campus – Estates Division I
Meridian Campus – Willows
Meridian Campus – Estates Division III
Meridian Campus – Estates Division II
Meridian Campus – Glen
Meridian Campus – Peak
Meridian Campus – Reserve
Meridian Campus - Ridge
Meridian Campus – Highlands Tracts T and V
Meridian Campus – Highlands N Division I
Meridian Campus - Highlands N Division II
Meridian Campus – Meadows Division I
Meridian Campus – Meadows Division II
Meridian Campus – Meadows Phase III
Meridian Campus – Puget Meadows East
Meridian Campus – Puget Meadows West
Meridian Campus – North Thurston Middle School #5
Meridian Campus - Highlands Phase I
Meridian Campus - Highlands Phase II
Meridian Campus - Puget Meadows West Apartments