Inside the Park View Inn

[thelakelander]

Here's a general description of the creek from the US Army Corps website:

Hogan’s Creek origin is in the Springfield community. Wayne W. Wood in his 1989 Jacksonville’s Architectural Heritage: Landmarks for the Future (Jacksonville, FL) described that in about 1870, Springfield had been named because of a spring of good water located in a field near Broad and West Fourth Streets. This spring would have been near the headwaters of Hogan’s Creek.

Richard A. Martin, in his 1972 book The City Makers (Convention Press, Inc., Jacksonville, FL), described changes made along the creek. To control mosquitoes and associated diseases, efforts were made in the late 1800s to drain marshy areas along the creek. To help with flood protection, the creek was dredged at about the same time.

Sewage problems adversely affecting the creek have also been noted over the years. The creek has also served as a firebreak. Very little of the Great Fire that destroyed the City of Jacksonville in 1901 passed beyond the creek.

Industrial land use activities have occurred near the mouth of the creek. A shipyard used to exist at the mouth of the creek. Coffee has been ground near the mouth of Hogan’s Creek since about 1906. In this early time period, coffee beans were brought in directly by ship to docks at the mouth of the creek and unloaded. The coffee beans would be ground and placed into jars. The jars of coffee would then be placed on railroad cars for distribution to points north.

The creek is shown on Corps of Engineer drawings dating back to 1926. Wood reported that in 1929 Jacksonville architect Henry John Klutho designed the balustrades and bridges along the creek in the Springfield area. The current study would review water quality problems associated with Hogan’s creek and develop recommendations, including for the creation of a greenway and littoral areas alongside the creek. Flooding problems would also be reviewed. The creek physically runs for about a mile and a half ending at the St. Johns River, an American Heritage River. The Hogan’s Creek basin incorporates approximately 2000 acres.

http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/pd/pdpf_studies/Hogans_Creek/hogan_creek.htm

[downtownparks]

One more bit of info, unrelated to the PVI, We did was we asked JU to do some testing on the creek. I presented these finding to the DEP as well as Congresswoman Brown when Doug, myself and a couple of others were asking her to push harder for funding on the ACoE project.

Here are the results

Results

   Water samples were analyzed for the following metals: copper, chromium, cadmium, manganese, lead, nickel, and zinc.  Cadmium was the only metal that was found in the water and was very low in concentration (about 0.02 ppm).

  Copper, zinc, and especially lead, are found to be exceptionally concentrated in the sediments.  Included are the results for a sediment sample taken from the banks of the St. Johns River near the boat dock at Jacksonville University.

Both cadmium and nickel in the environment are dangerous but manganese is not very harmful.  The lead levels are very high and would be harmful to bottom feeding organisms.

[downtownparks]

I asked my DEP contact about the results, and he said

With Lead, our most conservative number for probably effect and threshold effect are 130 mg/kg (ppm) and 36 mg/kg (ppm) respectively

and

when I asked about the Confederate Park remediation, and followed up on the other industrial contaminants found in the study I was told (Info dated from 06/2006)

he City's consultant started drilling an additional set of assessment wells this week, you should be seeing a large drilling rig onsite for the next couple of weeks.
 
Need to see the results of the sampling and discuss internally for ideas, no initial thoughts on Nickel and Cadmium, but will try to think of possible sources..  Anything in the historical studies for Springfield that would suggest possible industries with these constituents.  The tanning industries did use these as part of some types of processes.

[downtownparks]

Also of note, This was from August of 2006

We are continuing the investigation of the contamination resulting from the past operations of the coal gasification plant formerly located adjacent to Confederate Park.  Additional borings were performed at the request of FDEP within the last 2 months and our consultant is currently evaluating the newly collected data and will be submitting their findings.  To fully assess the site, private commercial properties in the surrounding area may need to be assessed and it is my understanding that the State is currently pushing the owners to perform the necessary work.    Once the investigation has been completed we will be better able to determine what the options are for addressing the contamination and estimate a schedule for the cleanup of the Park.   The other end of the creek, in the vicinity of 6th Street and Boulevard, is part of the Jacksonville Ash Sites and under the jurisdiction of USEPA.  We are currently waiting on their issuance of the record of decision so we can move forward with remediation of the affected parcels.

[downtownparks]

Thank you for your email concerning Hogan Creek and Confederate Park.  Here is the status of various projects affecting this area.

 

Flood Reduction:  A project to reduce flooding along Hogan Creek has been underway for several years.  The initial study identified contamination issues in the creek that would have made channel dredging too costly for the flood reduction benefit gained.  However, flood reduction was gained by constructing stormwater treatment ponds upstream within the watershed.  Flood reduction will also be gained with the replacement of the Bay Street Bridge and channel widening at the mouth of the creek and the river.  This project is scheduled to commence construction in January 2007.

 

Eco-Restoration:  The USACOE project will be a good first at restoring Hogan Creek.  The city as a funding partner has committed to pay all costs associated with required contamination remediation/removal in the project footprint.  We look forward to this project being reactivated by the corps in the future.

 

Hogan Creek Greenway:  Walking Path along the creek including greening landscape—Design is underway with estimated bid letting in May 2007.

 

St. Johns River and Tributary TMDL Cleanup:  The city is obligated to reduce pollutants entering the main stem of the St. Johns River and several tributaries, including Hogan Creek.  Development of a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) is underway now.  Funding for this project is forecast in the proposed 2006-2011 Capital Improvement Plan.  We are currently grading proposals form consultants to provide professional service associated with this work including, updating the master stormwater management plan, updating the flood insurance rate maps, and performing water quality modeling to identify cost effective solutions to meet our TMDL (pollutant reduction) allocation for urban stormwater runoff entering the St. Johns River.

 

River Accord:  Recently, the mayor, together with partners who will invest in the future health of the river, announced the formation of the River Accord, a 10-year, $700 million program to begin restoring the health of the Lower St. Johns River Basin.  Details can be found at:  http://www.coj.net/Mayor/River+Accord/default.htm

 

A project to address the specific cleanup issues throughout the reaches of Hogan Creek, or any other similarly contaminated creek, is not underway.  However, through our current NPDES permit activities, we are aggressively identifying and causing removal of point sources of pollution entering our drainage system and ultimately the St. Johns River and its tributaries.  The City committed over $75 million of BJP funding for phasing out failed septic tanks throughout the city.  JEA is also executing an aggressive program to rehabilitate aging sewer lines.

[thelakelander]

I stopped in the library this afternoon to check the old city directories.

Citizen's Gas Light Company was established in 1874.  S.B. Hubbard was the president and the head office was located on Pine Street (now Main) on the present day site of the Bostwick Building.  The gas works plant was located where the Park View now sits.  However, the gas works plant does not show up in the city directories after 1896, so it must have ceased operation around that time.  I don't know when the plant was demolished, but I would not be suprised if it was a casualty of the Great Fire of 1901.

I also checked what was located on the site during the early 1920s.  By this time, this area had become automobile central.  The Park View site was the home of Atlantic Tire, Super Service Garage, Robertson-Mckee Motor Co., Indiana Truck Corp., Lovejoy Sales Co. and National Plating Workshop.  Claude Nolan Cadillac was located on the block immediately to the south and the block immediately to the east.  The old red brick warehouses on Orange were used for automobile repair, service, paint and body shops.  Also in 1921, the block just to the west was occupied by Marmon Motor Cars.

[thelakelander]

So it would be safe to assume that the maximum time that the gas works was open was from 1874 to 1896.  22 years.  And the plant ceased operation 112 years ago. 

If Van Winkels position is correct and 20 years of the plants operation was not gassification, then the amount of time that the 'blob' might have accumulated from 'gassification' would be even briefer.

Well at least we have a bit more in the 'factual' arena to work with now.

Thanks Lake for taking the time.   That took only one day?

It only took about 45 minutes of serious looking.  The rest of my time was spent looking at old downtown master plans, city photo albums and Klutho books. 

There were not many environmental regulations during that time.  A few years of gassification could be more than enough to pollute a site with no environmental regulations in place.  However, I would be just as concerned about contamination as a result of auto repair and painting shops in the general area that date back from the 1920s.  I'm going to have to do a little more study on National Plating.  At this point, I have no idea on what they were doing in that building, which was located on the corner of Main & Orange.

[thelakelander]

Interesting read.  By the way, although the gas works appeared to have closed around 1896, the 1907 directory has the company listed as the Citizens Gas Company (lights were dropped), specializing in gas stoves.  Their office at this time, was located at 18 E Forysth Street.  Sanborn maps also show a much larger gas plant near Beaver & Church in operation at this time.

[thelakelander]

A few interesting points in this article.  First note that the Seattle Gassification Plant (which is truly massive btw) operated from 1906 to 1956 or 50 years.   By contrast, we have established a maximum operation time for our much smaller plant to have been 22 years.

Second, the Seattle Gassification Plant only closed in 1956, and yet according to the article by 1985 most of the property had already cycled out the pollutants. This is a period of 30 years.   As an additional contrast, we have alread established a time period of 113 years since the Jacksonville Gassification Plant was operational, possibly longer.

Third, the apparent pollutant one worries about with the gassification process is the release of benzenes as a related process from decompozing pollutants.

I havent seen any discussion of these benzenes in our environmental reports.

I'd be just as concerned about the other uses that took place on that site before the hotel was build there and the sites surrounding the hotel.  The gas works was one of many "dirty" industries during a time when the environment was not a real concern.  If something (gas, paint, car oil, human waste, whatever) has contaminated the ground in the general area, there's a good chance that contamination is not confined to one particular block.

[thelakelander]

Thanks Lake, I really think this 'problem' has a lot simpler solutions than declaring war on all the landowners, and then waiting on the 'guv'ment' to cough 10 million dollars to dig everything up, taking up another 15 years of foot dragging and bullshittery.

I don't think we'll get any where blaming downtown advocates that want to see the park and creek restored.  Without them and their passion, the park system would still be as poorly maintained as it was five years ago.  The difference in what it looks like today and what it was in 2003 is night and day.  Also, as I understand it, a good portion of money set aside to restore the creek, ended up being shifted to Iraq.

As for the Park View, if the site has a clean bill of health, then there's little anyone can do to hold up or deny redevelopment if a developer is serious about investing in it.  Quite frankly, there's no reason for someone not to be in favor of improving the site.

[thelakelander]

I'd be just as concerned about the other uses that took place on that site before the hotel was build there and the sites surrounding the hotel.  The gas works was one of many "dirty" industries during a time when the environment was not a real concern.  If something (gas, paint, car oil, human waste, whatever) has contaminated the ground in the general area, there's a good chance that contamination is not confined to one particular block.

true but given the history, it is at this point the least likely to be the most significantly contributing property.

Actually considering that remediation has already taken place, this property has the potential of being the least contaminated of all of them.

FYI, because of the poisonous nature of the gassification plants, it was the first industry to have national environmental regulations created for it.  They date back to the 1880s.

When did remediation take place on the Park View site and the blocks surrounding it?  Is there anything on record that we can upload for all to see?

[thelakelander]

Luckily no one is standing pat.  Since I moved to town and purchased property in Springfield, progress has been made.  These would include the Hogans Creek Greenway (hasn't started, but the money has been set aside by the State), the dog park, the rose arbor, better city maintainance, the improved baseball ground, restored gazebo and Dillion fountain at Klutho Park.  Plus its not a homeless campground anymore.  In the meantime we all just have to keep plugging along and taking advantage of these many options when they present themselves.

[downtownparks]

Cool. Handle up.

[heights unknown]

I'm with you on the Movie Theatre downtown, but not there - Ideally, a movie theatre would be somewhere near Bay St, so it can create a synergy between it and the venues that are already there.

In the past, we've done a bad job of locating nodes of activity far apart form each other, and it doesn't allow for good infill.

How about two movie theaters, a large one (12 to 24 screens) on Bay Street, and a smaller one on the Park View location (6 to 12 screens for Springfield, Eastside Residents); then you'd have enough theaters for downtown for the present.

Heights Unknown

[heights unknown]

My firm worked with a developer who wanted to demolish the building and construct a 25 story tower with a Walgrees on the corner of Main & State, back in 2003/4.  Although its not a superfund site, contamination was certainly an issue at that time from the environmental reports they had done and the ultimate reason on why they passed.  Sanborn maps also indicate that the site was indeed a coal glassification plant at one time.  I'll see if I can dig up the old files on Monday for proof.  Stephen, in the meantime, see if you can dig up documents from the owner that indicate the site being free of contamination.

Lakelander.......peacemaker and mediator!

Heights Unknown