Bothell Landing

The southern portion of the Bothell Landing site (18120, 18126, 18132 Bothell Way NE) lies on Tax Parcel 4 (King County Parcel number 9457200015)south of SR 522.
 
Tax Parcel 4 had petroleum and arsenic impacts to ground water that exceeded cleanup levels.  Tax Parcel 4 is under a May 13, 2020 environmental covenant. 

All petroleum contaminated sources have been removed at Tax Parcel 3 and Tax Parcel 4. Groundwater monitoring data collected between 2020 and 2022 shows localized and naturally high arsenic in some groundwater wells, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs-diesel and heavy oil) are sporadically detected.  The sporadic detections are due to degradation products (polar metabolites) of TPHs in groundwater.  Ecology has determined that the naturally occurring arsenic and petroleum degradation products do not pose any threat to human health and the environment.

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the City of Bothell (City) held a 20-day comment period (January 19 - February 7, 2023) to remove the environmental covenants for portions of the Bothell Landing, Bothell Former Hertz, and Bothell Paint & Decorating sites.

Ecology received seven comments regarding removing the environmental covenants for

• Bothell Paint and Decorating  (18004 & 18005 Bothell Way N.) - Tax Parcel 3 – King County Parcel # 9457200072.
• Bothell Former Hertz (18030 Bothell Way NE) and Bothell Landing (18120, 18126, 18132 Bothell Way NE) - Tax Parcel 4 – King County Parcel # 9457200015. 

Ecology has reviewed and considered all the public comments. No significant changes will be made to the environmental covenants.  Ecology will remove the environmental covenants from the respective Tax Parcel 3 and Tax Parcel 4.  

A copy of the termination of the Environmental Covenants will be posted on our website and available at the repositories.

Bothell Landing site is one of six sites in the historic downtown area that have received grant funding from Ecology to help with the cost of cleanup.

The City of Bothell (Bothell) is the current owner of the property south of the intersection of SR 522 and SR 527, at 18120, 18132, and 18126 Bothell Way NE, Bothell (King County Tax Parcel Nos. 945720-0015) and 10001 Woodinville Dr. (King County Tax Parcel No. 945720-0020) as well as the adjacent right-of-way. Bothell acquired the right-of-way property in the late 1990’s and acquired the remaining Bothell Landing Property in 2007. They entered into an Agreed Order with Ecology in 2009 for investigation of contamination on the site.

 A strip mall, restaurants, and historic gas stations with multiple abandoned petroleum underground storage tanks (USTs) formerly occupied the site. Initially, a portion of this site was acquired by Bothell for roadway widening and construction of a small park (Rotunda Park). In the course of redevelopment, five underground storage tanks and approximately 385 tons of petroleum contaminated soil were encountered and removed during construction of the park in 1998. Two gasoline service stations were formerly located on the north and northeast portions of the Bothell Landing site. One of the stations was likely associated with the five underground storage tanks.

The Bothell Landing Site was under the Voluntary Cleanup Program and Ecology issued an Interim No Further Action letter in 2002 for site soils (excluding ground water). The property owner recorded a restrictive covenant for the site in 2002 confirming that petroleum-affected soils and ground water exist at the site. Ecology removed the site from the Voluntary Cleanup Program in 2006 due to a lack of activity. Also in 2006, Ecology issued a Further Action Determination at the Site. The Further Action Determination stated that Ecology would review the No Further Action determination based on further ground water data showing compliance with the MTCA cleanup levels for petroleum hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons at the site (Riley Group, 2007).

An environmental investigation conducted at the Site in 2007 included soil and ground water samples at two locations. One location was at the vicinity of the former underground storage tank location near the north property boundary. The second location is at the central and southern portion of the Site, where historic fill activities are suspected. Chlorinated volatile organic compounds were detected in ground water samples. The source of these organic compounds is the nearby Ultra Custom Care Cleaners site, which is being cleaned up separately

Interim action soil cleanups were conducted in September and October 2010, October 2013 to May 2014, September 2015, and January 2017. Following the excavations, confirmation samples were taken. Oxygen Release Compound (ORC) was placed in the 2010 excavation. The remedy for the Site is a combination of actions:

• excavation of contaminated soils (already completed as interim actions),
• engineering controls (capping under roadways, already completed),
• institutional controls (environmental covenants restricting access to soil and groundwater), and
• groundwater compliance monitoring to determine when cleanup standards have been met and if groundwater arsenic is natural background or induced by petroleum hydrocarbon degradation.

Chemicals of concern remaining after the interim action:  

• In soil: Gasoline range petroleum hydrocarbons and benzene
• In groundwater: Arsenic

Remaining soil impacts are located under an active roadway (SR 522).

Groundwater monitoring data collected between 2020 and 2022 shows localized and naturally high arsenic in some groundwater wells, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs-diesel and heavy oil) are sporadically detected.  The sporadic detections are due to degradation products (polar metabolites) of TPHs in groundwater.  Ecology has determined that the naturally occurring arsenic and petroleum degradation products do not pose any threat to human health and the environment.