Tumwater committee moves to place $200,000 environmental assessment contract for brewery sites on council consent calendar

The Tumwater General Government Committee on April 15 recommended placing a service provider agreement with Pioneer Technologies Corporation on the April 21 city council consent calendar to carry out environmental assessment work at brewery‑area brownfield sites.

Kelly Adams, assistant city administrator, told the committee the contract would fund phase II soil and groundwater testing on priority brewery properties and related deliverables required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Adams said the city has used a Communitywide Assessment Grant from the EPA (total $500,000) and is ‘‘about halfway through’’ that grant; the initial Pioneer scope is for $200,000 and the term is aligned with the EPA grant, which staff said must be completed by September 2027.

Why it matters: Adams said assessment and remediation planning remove uncertainty that deters private investment and allow the city to seek cleanup funding from regulators. ‘‘Brownfields are the properties that you drive by that have real or it could just be perceived contamination,’’ Adams said, listing gas stations, dry cleaners and auto shops as examples. She told the committee that assessment findings are public records and that having robust testing can make sites more attractive to developers.

What staff proposed: Adams said the city has completed phase I and II work on one hill site adjacent to I‑5 and conducted a phase I on a nearby warehouse (the ‘‘valley’’ site). The Pioneer agreement would start with phase II work on the warehouse site and expand to adjacent city‑owned parcels the city recently acquired to provide a fuller picture of conditions and cleanup needs.

Funding and scope: Adams said the EPA grant has paid for much of the program to date; staff are negotiating with EPA how many assessments the grant will fund given the size and constraints of the sites. She described the $200,000 Pioneer scope as covering a variety of deliverables the city owes the EPA rather than a single narrowly defined test.

Next steps and vote: Adams recommended placing the agreement on the April 21 consent calendar with a recommendation that the council approve and authorize the mayor to sign. A motion to do so was moved and seconded in committee; members responded ‘‘I’’ on a voice vote. Individual roll‑call tallies were not specified in the committee record.

Other details: Committee members asked about ownership (Adams said some sites are privately owned and some are city property), demolition funding for a contaminated boiler house (staff said a separate funding request to Strickland is being pursued but not yet awarded), and coordination with the railroad for easements. Adams invited the public to contact her or the city’s economic development coordinator, Gan Angel, for more information.

What happens next: If the council places and approves the item on April 21, staff said phase II scheduling would begin immediately and results would feed into cleanup planning and future funding applications. The committee also asked staff to return with periodic updates to show community progress on the Brewery District work.