Along the 3500 block of East Washington sat a 50-foot-high pile of foundry sand that was an eye sore and created health concerns for more than a decade while the city and property owner debated the fate of what is dubbed Black Mountain.
Now, the city is working to redevelop the area with input from residents. There was a public meeting June 16 at Purdue Polytechnic High School to discuss the future of the land.
All that remains of the pile is a foothill of Black Mountain, and the city is looking for input on what to do with the property next. What is left behind now, roughly 5% of sand that once formed Black Mountain, was once overgrown with vegetation, making it unfit to use. The city used the rest to level the parking lot at the new Community Justice Campus.
The site is considered a brownfield by the Environmental Protection Agency, making the redevelopment complicated, according to Julie Rhodes, a consultant on the project. A brownfield is a property or redevelopment that may be complicated by the presence of hazardous material, according to the EPA. There are about 1,600 active brownfield sites in Indiana.
The area has been home to a variety of businesses, including a gas station, polishing and plating company, and a recycling company that held 120,000 tons of foundry sand during the operation of the former Chrysler Foundry. Foundry sand is core sand that has been used to create molds for iron, steel and aluminum, according to Chris Harrell, director of redevelopment for Lazarus Group, a firm that focuses on advising the use of brownfields and distressed real estate. The EPA supports the use of foundry sand when used and stored correctly, Harrell said. So far, 161,000 tons of foundry sand have been approved and moved for reuse, he said.
A combination of lawsuits and bankruptcy left the city’s hands tied until it took involuntary ownership of the property in late 2018 after years of legal battles with the former property owner, according to Piers Kirby, administrator of real estate and brownfield redevelopment for the Department of Metropolitan Development.
The public meeting June 16 discussed possible future plans for the site. There have been 126 community surveys completed so far, according to Rhodes. Redevelopment opportunities include greenspaces, new housing, commercial and industrial office space.
Remediation will soon be underway on the former site to prepare it for its future use, whatever that may be. The remediation plan is out for bid and will be finalized soon, Kirby said. Once the vision plan for the site is finished, it will be published to gather more community input, address environmental conditions of the site and redevelopment for the future.
“Black Mountain does not exist anymore; it’s a thing of the past,” Kirby said.
Contact staff writer Jayden Kennett at 317-762- 7847 or by email jaydenk@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @JournoJay.
This story has been updated to clarify Piers Kirby’s title. An earlier version of this story said the 5% of foundry sand was unfit to haul away. It has since been updated to clarify it is unfit to use and will be removed. It has also been clarified that 1,600 active brownfield sites are not owned by the city, but instead there are 1,600 active brownfield sites in the state. We apologize for the error. The Recorder makes every attempt to correct its mistakes.
