Ballard Auto Wrecking

Ecology held a 30-day public comment period. Ecology removed the Site from the Hazardous Sites List and remove the restrictive covenant.

The Ballard Auto Wrecking Site was cleaned up under the Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). Under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, property owners clean up their own property to meet the state cleanup standards. Ecology provides technical and regulatory review assistance. Ecology has determined that the cleanup work at the Site meets the requirements of state cleanup regulations.

The Site was cleaned up to the point that it no longer poses a threat to human health or the environment. 

Ballard Auto Wrecking (Site) is located at 1515 NW Leary Way, Seattle at the corner of 15th Avenue NW and NW Leary Way in an area zoned for commercial/industrial land use. The Site is approximately 0.68 acres in size (29,621 square feet) with an L-shaped configuration. The land surface is generally flat, sloping gently from a high point in the southeast corner (approximate elevation 40 feet above mean sea level) toward a lower area on the west (34 feet). The Site was secured by fencing around its entire perimeter in the past, but currently it is open to the public. The tax parcel ID number is 2767702105 and the property includes lots 7 through 14 of the Gilman Park Addition. The property is zoned by City of Seattle for industrial use (zoning IG-2), and has been in traditional industrial uses continuously since 1928. Consequently, the property has in the past met the definition of an industrial property under Washington state cleanup regulation (MTCA; Chapter 173-340 WAC).

The historical features associated with the former gasoline station include the potential presence of underground storage tanks (UST) and residual petroleum hydrocarbons in the northeast corner of the property. The property operated as an auto wrecking yard, but after the cleanup activities that operation was closed and the automotive inventory was removed. The property then included a small office with a parts counter, a garage-like structure, covered areas with shelving for parts storage, and open areas used for additional storage. These structures were removed and the property was vacant for a time before the current business selling compost/soil located there.

Cleanup construction took place primarily between September 15 and October 2, 2003 with Aspect Consulting overseeing. Construction activities included removal of three underground storage tanks (USTs) associated with former service station operations, and excavation and off-Site treatment/disposal of impacted soils exceeding soil cleanup levels. Two sets of soil cleanup levels had been established, one for near-surface soils in the central and western portions of the Site that were impacted by past wrecking yard operations, and the other for deeper impacted soils associated with the UST excavation. Prior to excavation, there was evidence of only one UST (a single fill pipe discovered at ground surface during the Site investigation). However, two 3,500-gallon and one 1,800- gallon USTs were found at that location. Water and product were pumped from the USTs prior to cleaning, inerting, and removal. Approximately 120 cubic yards (cy) of soils were excavated as part of the UST removal, including roughly 20 cy of overburden soils and 100 cy of soils impacted by petroleum products (primarily gasoline and diesel). Impacted soils were excavated to depths up to 14 feet bgs. Groundwater with a sheen was observed at a depth of approximately 13 feet bgs, and approximately 1,100 gallons were pumped from the excavation prior to backfilling. Chemical analysis of verification soil samples collected from the UST excavation bottom and sidewalls demonstrated that soil cleanup levels had been achieved. One hundred seventy two tons of near-surface soils impacted by diesel- and oil-range petroleum hydrocarbons, and lead were excavated from two areas within the central and western portions of the Site. After verification sampling demonstrated that soil cleanup levels were achieved, clean imported soil was backfilled to these areas to restore grade.

Ecology issued a ‘No Further Action’ (NFA) letter June 29, 2004 after a restrictive covenant was recorded with the county. The NFA letter also required additional compliance groundwater monitoring which occurred. Four consecutive quarterly groundwater monitoring results were performed by the current owner of the property.  For each of the last four quarterly monitoring events, all chemicals of concern are below state cleanup levels for groundwater.

The current property owner also did additional excavation and confirmation soil sampling to determined if the site met Model Toxics Cleanup Action (MTCA) Method A cleanup levels for unrestricted land use.

In February and March 2011, a comprehensive soil cleanup plan was completed.  A total of 320 cubic yards of soil was excavated and removed in 2011.  The contaminated soil was removed from the site and taken to a permitted landfill.  Clean soil was backfilled.  Analytical data results from soil samples confirmed that the Site now meets the subsurface soil cleanup standards for an unrestricted land use designation.  After the comment period, the Restrictive Covenant will be removed from the Site.