Park St. apartment project on hold over groundwater contamination

Work has stopped on a luxury apartment building at the former Lanes Bakery on South Park Street after DNR inspectors found oil-contaminated water being pumped from the site into the storm sewer without a permit.

JD McCormick Developmentis working on a five-story, 40-unit apartment building with commercial space on the bottom floor. The $5 million project at 444 S. Park St., directly across Drake Street from the new Ideal Apartments, includes underground parking.

The problem was discovered on Oct. 14 after a Department of Natural Resources staffer noticed cloudy water and sediment flowing into Monona Bay just a block from the construction site, according to DNR groundwater supervisor Linda Hanefeld.

An investigator then went to the site and saw water being pumped from an excavation hole into the storm sewer. Construction crews were not on the site at the time and the pumps were operating off a diesel-powered electric generator.

The inspector also detected a petroleum smell. A review of records then found no permit to discharge water into the storm sewer.

Hanefeld said the DNR was unable to connect with the owners and eventually had Madison police come to the site to shut off the generator and stop the pumping.

It appears the pumps were set up to operate as long as the generator would keep working, she says.

The DNR also took samples from six different locations where the water was pumped and found one sample nearest the corner of Park and Drake street with some level of petroleum-related contamination, Hanefeld said.

Hanefeld says its unclear if the water was contaminated would require special treatment. In either case, a permit is needed whether the water is sent to the storm sewer or the sanitary sewer, where it is then treated by the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District before being discharged into Nine Springs Creek.

Developer Joe McCormick did not return a phone call seeking more information or the status of the project.

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Park St. apartment project on hold over groundwater contamination