Title
Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program Petitioner - 901 E. 4th Street Parking Deck Location
Action
ACTION:
Authorize the County Manager to negotiate and execute all documents necessary for the County to assume Petitioner designation of the former Sno-White dry cleaning case (DC600026) with the State of North Carolina administered Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program (DSCA); thereby, allowing the County-owned property at 901 E. 4th Street in Uptown Charlotte (which serves as the County's government parking deck and retail location) to remain in the State's DSCA Program
Staff Contact: Jacqueline McNeil, Real Estate Management Director
Presentation: No
BACKGROUND/JUSTIFICATION:
The North Carolina Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act of 1997 (DSCA) was established by the State to assess and cleanup contamination stemming from the dry cleaning process. The program does testing and remediation as well as provide certain liability protections to program participants. A former dry cleaning business (Sno-White Cleaners) that was located at the site of the County’s current government district parking deck, 901 E. 4th Street in Uptown Charlotte (intersection of McDowell & 4th Streets), entered the State's clean-up program in 2002. The County purchased the subject dry-cleaning property in 2003 and later built the parking deck and retail businesses located there which serves the courthouse and other County office buildings.
Following County ownership, the State approached the County to obtain an access agreement to do necessary testing over the years associated with Sno-White's participation in the program. The County agreed to grant the State access to the property for program related purposes. Recently, the County learned that the previous owners (Sno-White Cleaners) are closing down their legal entity which would result in the lost of a viable Petitioner for the site with the State’s DSCA program; thus, removing the site from the program and the protections provided by the State.
The State has offered to make Mecklenburg County the Petitioner and keep the site in the program which would allow the liability protections and cleanup services to remain in place. As part of the program, it is the Petitioner's responsibility to pay a 2% co-pay based on costs incurred by the State for activities related to cleaning up the property. Thus far, the State has incurred costs of $232,647.54 on the site and there is a co-pay credit balance of $7,622.05 (from advance co-payments from the previous owners). Therefore, the County will incur no cost for program participation until the State's costs exceed $613,750, with the exception of a $1,000 Petitioner application fee, if the County elects to become the Petitioner. The County's Asset and Facility Management Department as well as the Office of the County Attorney reviewed the program and have determined that it is to the County's benefit to remain in the program due to the program protections and cleanup services provided.
PROCUREMENT BACKGROUND:
N/A
POLICY IMPACT:
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funds for the $1,000 application fee will come from the Asset and Facility Management Department's operating budget.