Blackstock Lumber

The subject property is located at 545 to 631 Elliott Avenue West, in Seattle, Washington. The property encompasses approximately 3 acres, and is bounded by Elliott Avenue to the east, Burlington Northern Railroad tracks to the west, and commercial/light industrial businesses to the north and south. A vacated extension of West Mercer Street cuts across the northern half of the property. The former Blackstock Lumber Company building previously occupied the central portion of the property, with a railroad spur located along the west side of the building footprint. A Hart-Crowser Phase I Environmental Assessment (1989) identified previous occupants of the property including the Seattle Lumber Company (1910’s to 1930’s), Blackstock Lumber (1930’s to 1980’s), and the Humane Society (1930’s to 1970’s). Blackstock Lumber occupied a portion of the south side of the property, (south of West Mercer Street). The Humane Society occupied the area north of West Mercer Street. Blackstock Lumber occupied the area north of West Mercer Street in the 1980’s. The property is currently temporary construction storage with no buildings noticeable, but the property is covered with large concrete structures presumably being stored but obscuring visibility.

The soil remaining on site which contains petroleum hydrocarbons at levels above MTCA Method A cleanup guidelines is present in a triangularly-shaped area roughly 40 square feet in size. The thickness of the impacted soil layer is approximately 3 feet to 7 feet. Based on this information it has been estimated that approximately 10 cubic yards of impacted soil remains in the subsurface environment. This soil is located below the groundwater table and could not be excavated due to its proximity to an active Burlington Northern railroad spur.

The local groundwater did not exhibit evidence of petroleum hydrocarbons at the conditional point of compliance, but there is no record of sampling groundwater since 1993. The groundwater was monitored quarterly over a period of one year to document that no adverse impact had occurred, but contaminated soil was known to be in contact with groundwater, so there is no guarantee that contaminated groundwater has remained contained within the conditional point of compliance. It was a decision based on best professional judgment at the time since this contamination had been in the subsurface environment for more than 10 years prior to the monitoring, and sampling revealed no contaminated groundwater migration. No future groundwater impacts were anticipated, even though groundwater is known to be in contact with the contaminated soil remaining.

Ecology issued a ‘No Further Action’ letter in September 1995 after a restrictive covenant was recorded in September 1995.