Camden tannery cleanup to wrap up soon
Courtesy / Town of Camden
The end is in sight for the cleanup of Camden's Apollo Tannery site, seen here in the 1960s. The town acquired the Washington Street property in 2003 and the building was subsequently razed.
The finish line is in sight on the long-time remediation process for a three-acre contaminated tannery site in Camden.
Redevelopment of the former Apollo Tannery is still to be determined. But ideas raised during the March 12 meeting of the board of selectmen included multi-use development with public-use elements like a playground, parking lot and green space for the Washington Street property. The Camden Farmers' Market operates there in the summer.
“We have to be wide in our net on what we expect for development,” said Jeremy Martin, planning and development director.
In 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a $200,000 brownfields and Land Revitalization grant to the town for the continued cleanup of the property. After a century heavy industrial operations, contaminants include benzoapyrene and arsenic. The tannery closed in 1999. Camden acquired it through foreclosure in 2003.
The board heard the latest update from Steve Dyer, an engineer with Ransom Consulting of Portland. Dyer said the grant money became available Oct. 1. Ransom is drawing up an analysis of cleanup alternatives from a number of perspectives, including cost, feasibility and reduction in toxicity. The analysis is expected to be complete next week, he said.
“It’s to make sure the cleanup does what you think it’s going to do and it does it cost-effectively,” Dyer said. “Then we’ll prepare a remedial action plan. We’ll figure out the exact mechanisms of the cleanup.”
Likely remediation will be en engineered cover system of contaminated portions of the site, possibly with targeted soil removal, he said.
The finalized plan will go to EPA for final approval, he said. Ransom will then develop bidding documents.
“Hopefully local contractors will be interested,” he said.
At the same time, Martin said, he is working with the Camden Economic Development Advisory Committee to draft a request for proposals to redevelop the site or a portion of the site. The request for proposals will likely be issued within the coming month. Town meeting will have final say on redevelopment, he said.
“Hopefully we get proposals that the community can get behind,” he said.
The selected developer will then work with Ransom to help design the cover plan and remediation will likely take only two to three weeks.
The site is on a tree-lined, residential stretch of Washington Street.
The property's manufacturing history goes back to 1855 with the construction of the Gould Plug and Wedge Mill. In 1887 it became the Camden Woolen Co. and employed 125 people. In 1953, the Camden Tannery Corp. took over. In 1997, it was leased to Apollo Tanning and operated for two years before the company applied for bankruptcy in 2000.
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