[Highlights added] See also:

• Arsenic in HuttoParke & Hutto Square 
• Home Builders Mine for Green in Brownfields
• Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (a.k.a. the Brownfields Law)

As if unstable foundations and questionable constructions didn’t make owning a home in the Huttoparke neighborhood complicated enough, questions about the soil quality are also concerning residents of the beleaguered area of north Hutto.

The rich, dark soil in and around Hutto made the area excellent for farming prior to the city’s suburban housing boom. As such, the land was exposed to chemical pesticides. According to the Geological Society of America, application of arsenic-based pesticides in the cotton fields of Texas has rendered soils with higher-than-normal levels of arsenic. Arsenic in soil can be absorbed through skin contact or through the lungs via inhaled dust, though it is not deadly.

Before Lennar built the first homes in the Huttoparke neighborhood in 2005, Terracon consulting firm conducted a soil study to determine if the land, formerly used for cotton cultivation, was safe for residential housing. Russell Ford, senior hydrogeologist for Terracon, addressed the council on June 5 and said the levels of arsenic found in the Huttoparke neighborhood were dangerously high.

His presentation focused on a soil study conducted on the former co-op property, another former site of cotton production where soil toxicity was in question. He said the levels found at the co-op were relatively low compared to those in the Huttoparke neighborhood.

As a result of Terracon’s initial study of land in the Huttoparke area, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) recommended a voluntary soil remediation of the affected land, but stopped short of mandating the cleanup. At that time, developer John Lloyd owned the land in question. Lloyd later sold the land to Lennar, who created the Huttoparke residential subdivision.

According to TCEQ records, only five of the approximately 187 acres in the Huttoparke neighborhood were ridded of the high levels of arsenic in the voluntary cleanup, and the agency has no conclusive proof that the cleanup of those five acres ever took place.

Katherine Barnhill and her husband Chris have owned their home in Huttoparke since 2006. The couple was already dealing with structural problems caused by expansive soil in the area when Katherine discovered the soil may have arsenic in it, as well. She and her husband have been considering having their soil tested because of the uncertainty over the cleanup.

“TCEQ said they can’t guarantee that the cleanup project took place,” she said. “They said, ‘We rely on the word of the people who file for the certificate of completion.’”

The Barnhills, who were not informed of the possibility of arsenic in the soil, have corresponded with Stuart Goldsmith, a geologist in the site remediation division of the TCEQ, concerning the voluntary cleanup project in Huttoparke. In a written statement to the Barnhills, Goldsmith explained that Lennar held no responsibility concerning possible arsenic contamination on the land.

“The Voluntary Cleanup Program is a means by which a person can voluntarily clean up a contaminated property and give future owners some assurance that if something was missed, the future owners would not be held liable by the state for additional cleanup (providing that they have not contributed to the contamination),” he wrote. “The certificates providing the liability release apply to the surveyed areas only. If Lennar owned the property after [John Lloyd], it would have the liability protection for the certified areas.”

Goldsmith went on to explain that even were a private environmental consulting firm to find high levels of arsenic still on the property, the TCEQ might still not get involved.

“You should be aware that since the arsenic was broadly applied to fields in the vicinity (in the manner intended), it is not clear that the TCEQ would compel a cleanup,” he wrote.

Natalie and Mike Crump, Huttoparke residents, operate a website where they give attention to the concerns they and other homeowners in their neighborhood have about their houses.

Natalie Crump said inconsistencies in TCEQ documentation of the voluntary cleanup project have led her to believe it never took place. For example, she said the TCEQ issued a certificate of completion of the project to then-developer John Lloyd before the legal description of the property’s boundaries had been filed.

According to TCEQ documents, the certificate of completion was issued Oct. 19, 2004. “He filed for metes and bounds 13 months later, and they were incorrect,” Crump said. “I don’t think he remediated anything.”

TCEQ now considers the case closed and does not plan to analyze the soil or investigate the matter further. At this point, concerned Huttoparke homeowners have little recourse but to have their soil tested privately and decide, based on the results, if they want to undertake their own costly soil cleanup projects.

As if unstable foundations and questionable constructions didn’t make owning a home in the Huttoparke neighborhood complicated enough, questions about the quality and safety of the rich, dark soil once used for cotton farming are also concerning residents of the beleaguered area of north Hutto.

Traviss Thomas (The Hutto News, newsdesk@thehuttonews.com)
10/01/2008

Source: http://www.thehuttonews.com/articles/2008/10/04/news/news01.txt

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