NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

Aug. 25, 2010
Vol. 40, No. 292

For further information, contact Robert Newsome, DNREC Site Investigation and Remediation Branch, 302-395-2600, or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs Office, 302-739-9902.

Federal Highway Administration honors DNREC, partners for environmental stewardship in Fox Point park project

The Federal Highway Administration has recognized the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control with its Exceptional Environmental Stewardship award for DNREC’s partnership in a dual project that benefitted a wetland restoration while expanding a state park. The partnership between FHWA, DNREC and the Delaware Department of Transportation on the Glenville Wetlands Mitigation Bank Project and Fox Point State Park Expansion also saved $3 million in state funds.

“Congratulations to our teams at DNREC and DelDOT,” said Governor Jack Markell. “Their initiative and practical approach led to significant savings for taxpayers, while also improving our quality of life. The Glenville Wetland Mitigation Bank and the Fox Point State Park expansion are living testaments to the value of communication and collaboration between state agencies.”

“This project represents how government should work. Bringing together federal, state and local partners produced a wetland mitigation bank, provided flood relief, restored wetlands, expanded a beautiful park and guaranteed cost savings for Delawareans,” said DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara. “We are grateful to the Federal Highway Administration for their recognition of this project.”

According to FHWA, the project was chosen because of its teamwork, leadership, ingenuity, innovation and outstanding task completion with major cost savings to the State of Delaware.

“The projects help to sustain and restore a natural system and their functions and values,” said Gabe Rousseau, of FHWA’s Livability team. “These awards are highlighting the good works done by states to help improve livability among their communities.”

In 2003, the Glenville Estates subdivision near Stanton in New Castle County suffered serious flooding from Hurricane Henri, leaving 145 homes uninhabitable. Located within the 100-year floodplain of Red Clay Creek, the neighborhood had flooded before – but the 2003 flooding left fewer than 50 homes intact.

The State of Delaware took the lead in bringing relief to residents who had lost their homes, working with New Castle County, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and several state agencies to secure the $36 million needed for purchase, demolition and relocation of the neighborhood. Through a wetland restoration project that included removing soil, the former subdivision would be transformed into a wetland wildlife habitat that would also provide storage for floodwaters when needed.

Meanwhile, DNREC had been working to remediate a contaminated property along the Delaware River to open it to the public as part of Fox Point State Park. In the 1940s and 50s, the area had been filled in with material dredged from the river and industrial waste to provide a protective buffer for the rail lines. In 1975, the land was acquired by the state and became a county park.

In the early 1990s, the property was transferred to state ownership and DNREC’s Division of Air and Waste Management found evidence of contamination by lead, arsenic, PCBs, pesticides and other contaminants. The park was closed to the public to begin remediation, which included placing a clean cap of soil over the contaminated areas. By 2005, all that was needed to complete the project was another 130,000 cubic yards of clean soil. 

The two projects came together when the Delaware Department of Transportation contacted DNREC’s Site Investigation and Restoration Branch to ask if soil removed from Glenville could be used as fill for Fox Point. In June 2008, the first of more than 10,000 truckloads of fill and topsoil from Glenville arrived at Fox Point. Paved trails, parking, a self-composting restroom facility, a river overlook area and native plantings completed the new section of the park, which opened to the public on Earth Day 2009.

The joint project saved DNREC $2.5 million in material costs, while DelDOT saved $500,000 in disposal costs as well as earning wetland mitigation credits. Glenville – one of a very few urban wetland banks in the country – encompasses 22 acres of created wetlands and 26 acres of restored wetlands with a 20-acre buffer. The land will absorb excess stormwater when Red Clay Creek floods in the area, as well as providing wildlife habitat and the everyday benefits of a working wetland. Visitors to Fox Point State Park now have access to more than 55 acres along the Delaware River for walking, jogging, biking and picnicking with a beautiful view.

The Glenville Wetlands Mitigation Bank – Fox Point State Park Expansion Project also received a 2008 Delaware Governors Team Excellence Award before being announced as the recipient of the 2009 FHWA Environmental Excellence Award in the Ecology, Habitat and Wildlife category.