Lora Lake Apartments

Cleanup completed in January 2020.

Ecology finalized the Lora Lake Apartments Site Construction As-Built Report in January 2021. The cleanup work was conducted over two construction seasons: April to December 2017, and July 2019 to January 2020.

View the Construction As-Built Report:

Construction As-Built Report  

The Port removed or contained contaminated soil and sediment starting in December 2017. The cleanup was done in three areas.

Lora Lake Apartments Parcel
The Port removed approximately 42,000 tons of highly contaminated soil for disposal and placed a temporary barrier over the entire parcel. The barrier prevents wildlife and humans from coming in contact with the contaminated soil. A deed restriction (environmental covenant) limits the use of the site to commercial activities and ensures that future activities will not expose the capped contamination. Removal of highly contaminated soil resulted in cleanup of groundwater.
 
1982 Dredged Material Containment Area
The Port covered contaminated sediment deposited from a past dredging of Lora Lake with a porous pavement that prevents wildlife and humans from contacting the contamination. An environmental covenant will ensure that the cover is maintained.
 
Lora Lake Parcel
The Port addressed contaminated lake sediments and shallow soil along the western boundary of the parcel. 

Lake Sediment: The lake was restored to a wetland by placing approximately 58,200 tons of sand, 44.5 tons of granular activated carbon, and 6,200 cubic yards of topsoil over contaminated sediments contained at the bottom of the lake. Restoration of the lake to a wetland prevents contaminants from entering surface water that flows to Miller Creek. The restored wetland surface was stabilized with biodegradable erosion control fabric and approximately 4,100 woody wetland plants were planted and integrated into the surrounding wetlands. An environmental covenant ensures that the wetland will be maintained.
 
Shallow Soil: Approximately 1,250 tons of contaminated soil were excavated from the LL Parcel and disposed of off-site. No contamination remains in these areas.

The 18-acre site is located at 15001 Des Moines Memorial Drive in Burien, Washington 98148. This site is on Port property at the former Lora Lake Apartments and at Sea-Tac Airport nearby.

• Mid-1940s–Mid 1980s: A barrel-cleaning company followed by an auto-wrecking facility operated on site.
• 1987: A 22-building apartment complex was built.
• 1998: The Port acquired the property as part of a Sea-Tac runway protection zone. The portion of the site that was not required for the Runway Protection Zone is slated to be redeveloped.
• 2007: The Port demolished six buildings. Environmental samples prior to demolition showed higher-than-expected levels of contaminants.
• 2009: Ecology and the Port entered into an Agreed Order, under which the Port agreed to conduct a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study to understand the nature and extent of the contamination. The Port also demolished remaining above-ground structures and took measures — with Ecology oversight — not to disturb potentially contaminated soil.
• 2013: The Agreed Order was amended to require the Port to prepare the Draft Cleanup Action Plan.
• 2015. Ecology and the Port entered into a Consent Decree that included Ecology’s final Cleanup Action Plan.
• 2016. The Port finalized the Engineering Design Report, which includes a detailed plan and specifications for the proposed cleanup actions.
• 2017. Construction Season 1 was completed.
• 2020. Construction Season 2 was completed.
• 2022. Environmental Covenants were recorded with King County.
• 2025. Ecology will conduct the first Periodic Review.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed an environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool called EJSCREEN. It is based on nationally consistent data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports. See below for information about demographics in the area of Lora Lake Apartments, Burien.

EJSCREEN Census Block Map - This map shows the Census Blocks used to generate the reports below.

EJSCREEN ACS Summary Report Lora Lake Apartments – This report shows the demographic information about the population of the area.

EJScreen Report Lora Lake Apartments – This report shows the values for environmental and demographic indicators and EJSCREEN indexes. These percentiles provide perspective on how the selected block group or buffer area compares to the entire state, EPA region, or nation.
 
You can also check What’s in My Neighborhood to learn about other cleanups in your area. 

In the 1940s and 1950s, the site was used for cleaning barrels that had contained chemicals. From about the mid-1950s to 1981, the site was used for auto wrecking. Former activities at the site released hazardous chemicals into the environment: the soil, groundwater and sediment at the Lora Lake Apartments site. The contaminants include the following: 

• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• lead
• petroleum products
• arsenic
• pentachlorophenol
• dioxins/furans

 More information about these contaminants is available at the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry’s website.