July 2016 — Land & Development Quarterly —
Page 17
Environmental
T
he more than $200 million
environmental remediation
project as part of the Staple-
ton redevelopment is nearly
complete. It is a transforma-
tion from an international airport to
a thriving residential and mixed-use
community. Many local organizations
and businesses have come together
over the ongoing 18-year project,
including Earth Services & Abate-
ment, which has maintained a work-
ing presence in Stapleton, completing
multiple phases since the project’s
early years. Final phases of asbestos
abatement, demolition and soil reme-
diation are in progress, with a finish
date slated for August.
The 4,700-acre site was home to
Stapleton International Airport, which
first opened in 1929 as the Denver
Municipal Airport. However, as the
city began to grow, Denver officials
decided to close down the airport in
Stapleton and move it to its present-
day location, about 15 miles east of
the former site. In 1990, the Stapleton
Foundation was created and then
in 1995 after the Stapleton airport
officially closed, the foundation pub-
lished the Stapleton Redevelopment
Plan, commonly referred to as the
“Green Book.”The plan called for the
establishment of jobs and open rec-
reational spaces in a new mixed-use
neighborhood. Approved by Denver
City Council in 1995, the Green Book
was the foundation for the work that
is still taking place in the Stapleton
community.
Greg Holt, who serves as the director
of transportation systems at Denver
International Airport and the program
manager for Staple-
ton Redevelopment,
has worked on the
project since its
inception. Holt has
worked with the
city and county of
Denver for over 35
years and was the
chief airport opera-
tions manager at
the Stapleton Air-
port before its clo-
sure in 1995. Having
been involved with
multiple stakeholders and agencies to
make sure the redevelopment meets
all of the goals and regulations set in
place, Holt also worked closely with
ESA to see that all the demolition,
remediation and asbestos abatement
work was on schedule.
Airport cleanup presents its chal-
lenges.
The remediation program was
unique in that with so much acreage,
so many buildings and so many types
of contamination, we had to under-
take an interdisciplinary approach to
remediation. Contamination ranged
from asbestos-filled buildings, han-
gars and bridges, to long-forgotten
landfills that were scattered through-
out the former Stapleton property.
The landfills in particular became a
major focus of the cleanup efforts.
What many people do not realize
about old landfills is that they are full
of various types of contamination
that must be cleaned up in order to
redevelop the sites.You cannot sim-
ply put homes and infrastructure on
top of these abandoned sites. For one,
you end up with bad compaction and
settling occurs due to unstable soils
and void spaces. More importantly,
in the 1950s and ‘60s when these
landfills were created, old buildings
may have been demolished without
any asbestos abatement or hazard-
ous materials remediation prior to
demolition. Asbestos, lead and other
hazardous materials often are scat-
tered throughout the buried debris.
Holt explained that, as part of its sale
agreement, the city and county of
Denver had to clean these properties
up before transferring them to the
developer.
We performed environmental reme-
diation on over 1 million yards of
landfill materials contaminated with
asbestos, lead, PCBs, biohazards and
jet fuel, among other hazards.
In addition, our firm abated and
demolished multiple bridges, hangars
and buildings.
The project is still ongoing, requir-
ing two to three years before all of the
land is transferred and six to 10 years
before the site is fully developed.We
are completing the last major landfill
remediation on the Highline Canal,
Phase II portion of the project. This
area is approximately 45,000 cubic
yards of landfill material from a 1960s-
era landfill site. ESA is working con-
currently on the former control tower
abatement to make way for one of the
new highlights of the redevelopment
project, Punch Bowl Social – a popular
bar, restaurant and bowling alley.
s
Kory Mitchell
President, Earth
Services &
Abatement, Denver
Earth Services & Abatement performs contaminated soil remediation work at the
former Stapleton Airport, where its demolition and remediation efforts have spanned
over 18 years.
