Family Environmental News

Project section updated on Family web site

2010-01-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Recent update on the Family Environmental website include project descriptions for Kansas City, Missourri and Pueblo, Colorado.

Click here to access the Family Environmental Projects Page
or navigate through the project below for direct links.;

Pueblo, Colorado

Block 100, Kansas City, MO
Block 124, Kansas City, MO
Block 125, Kansas City, MO
Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
Old TWA Building, Kansas City, MO

Family Environmental assesses Sinclair Fire, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

2010-01-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

First asbestos tests on smoke from Sinclair fire come back clean

Posted on Dec 22, 2009 by Cindy Hadish.

A Cedar Rapids firefighter sprays water on a smoldering fire Thursday at the Sinclair site from the ladder of one of the department's Quint trucks while demolition crews from D.W. Zinser work to knock down parts of the interconnected buildings. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The first round of air testing from the Sinclair fire, conducted by an environmental firm for its own employees, showed no asbestos in the smoke plume.

Read complete article here.

Kansas City’s Block 100 Redevelopment Renaissance

2009-11-19T15:46:00.004-07:00

Family Environmental has been a proud partner in revitalizing the downtown corridor since opening an office in Kansas City, Missouri in 2005. Family Environmental moved their offices into the East Village Re-development Area in late 2007 to show their commitment to the “Big Picture” of the Re-Development Project, as well as the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

The former Greyhound Bus Terminal, located in the Block 100 East Village Re-development Area in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, has become part of the on-going Downtown Kansas City Renaissance of Revitalization. Family Environmental was contracted to perform a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) on Block 100, on behalf of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, prior to their purchasing of the property. The Phase I ESA was completed in 2007. It revealed underground storage tanks (USTs) and other historic environmental hazards associated with the property.

Once the City acquired ownership of the Block 100 property in 2008, they tasked Family Environmental to update the previous Phase I. This led to a Phase II ESA, which was designed to determine the extent of suspected environmental impacts. During the Phase II ESA, Family Environmental conducted a detailed, interior environmental assessment of the building, which consisted of an asbestos inspection, a lead-based paint inspection, and a household hazardous waste survey.

Family Environmental also composed the design specifications, which were utilized during the bidding process as a foundation for potential bidders to propose on. These specifications were written as the scope of work for the City of Kansas City, Missouri and were designed to be enforced by Family Environmental, the Design Professional, for the selected successful bidder. The specifications called for a complete cleanup of the asbestos spill material located in the interior of the building, proceeded by the demolition of the building itself, removal of all USTs, and the recycling of all building concrete as engineered fill for the site.

Once a contractor was selected by the City, the asbestos spill cleanup commenced. This cleanup involved the demolition of all interior, non load-bearing walls, as well as the complete removal of all asbestos containing materials throughout the building. This left only a concrete shell of the former bus terminal. During the asbestos spill cleanup, Family Environmental performed aggressive PCM/TEM air clearance sampling throughout the building interior. Furthermore, a total of 1.8 million cubic feet of airspace was contained to ensure proper asbestos cleanup. On September 29, 2009, demolition activities began on the site, and remain on-going.

To date, Family Environmental has addressed all environmental issues at the former bus terminal and has provided project management for the abatement and demolition activities.

Family Environmental and the City have also issued a requirement, being the first of its kind for the City of Kansas City, obligating the General Contractor to recycle 90-95% of the building materials from the concrete structure and to re-use it as fill for the future, on-site parking lot. Family Environmental is also supporting the City on their Block 100 Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund (PSTIF) claim.

Family Environmental continues to provide environmental oversight for all activities, thereby ensuring the adherence to environmental regulations and design specifications for the City of Kansas City.

Lending a hand to a city in need

2009-11-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

On Friday, June 13th 2008, the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, experienced a flood that far exceeded the 500-year floodplain. This flood proceeded to engulf approximately ten square miles of the city. Floodwaters reached, inundated, and damaged most downtown businesses and public buildings, as well as residential structures.
One of the most profoundly affected buildings in the area was City Hall, which is located in the middle of Cedar River, on May’s Island. In total, fifty City buildings were damaged by the floodwaters. As a result, several thousand residents were without homes, and between six and seven thousand jobs were estimated to have been lost.

As a result of this flooding, Family Environmental was contracted by the City of Cedar Rapids in August 2008 to perform Phase I and Phase II ESAs and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) air monitoring during demolition. Our president and CEO, Bernard Hurley, drove up to meet with city officials and personally inspect areas damaged by floodwaters. Upon inspection, it was apparent that the demolition of the buildings would be necessary, due in part to the fact that many of the structures had been weakened by flood waters, but mainly due to the growth of highly toxic black mold that had begun within the buildings. Thus, Family Environmental began preliminary hazardous material evaluations and the Phase I ESAs, to determine the locations of the contamination. Family Environmental then worked with the City to ensure that all hazardous material would be removed in accordance with Federal, State and local guidelines. In response to the magnitude of this project, Family Environmental opened a new office in the City of Cedar Rapids, to house its technicians and project managers and ensure that the project would be completed on time and under budget. The staff worked quickly and efficiently to open this office, and have ensured that the project continues to run smoothly and without avail. A sense of community building has developed within the office, as many of the workers live in and around the Cedar Rapids metro area. They feel a sense of pride in the work that they are accomplishing and are able to see the support that they are bringing to an otherwise devastated community.

To date, Family Environmental is responsible for the Environmental Air Assessments completed at the City Hall/VA building, the GTC Bus Terminal, the Montessori and several Parkades. Other buildings contracted to Family Environmental include the Paramount Theater, the Central Fire Station, the Forestry Building, the Hall of Fame, the Animal Shelter, the Ushers Ferry Land Office and Snoble House, and 10 Skywalks throughout the city. Family Environmental has also completed air monitoring on 71 homes that were demolished as Asbestos Containing Material (ACM), and are currently under contract to begin air monitoring on another 70 homes scheduled for ACM demolition.

In addition to the Phase I, Hazardous Material Assessments and Oversight projects that are currently being performed, Family Environmental was contracted by the City of Cedar Rapids in September 2009 to undertake “DEMOLITION PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES” relating to the City’s Flood Recovery efforts. From this contract, Family Environmental was tasked with fulfilling project management and documentation services for the City.

Accordingly, Family Environmental provided highly trained technical professionals to design and oversee the environmental remediation and demolition activities. Family Environmental also coordinated with the City of Cedar Rapids and FEMA to produce correct reporting procedures and documents under FEMA 404 Hazard Mitigation Program, using the FEMA 403 Spreadsheet, the FEMA 325 Public Disaster Assistance Debris Management Guide, and the FEMA 19 Point Checklist. Family Environmental has utilized its online database/Share Point capabilities to keep track of the City’s documentation. Utilizing Microsoft SharePoint and various IT resources, they have created a web-based site to host all documents, data, records and other information as it pertains to the Demolition Project Management Services contract. Hosted on Family Environmental’s Share Point server, which is based in the newly established Cedar Rapids office, this website is highly confidential, thus allowing dissemination of information between the City and Family Environmental, while protecting the interests of the project. Ultimately, this SharePoint capability has provided a transparent system for our clients, one which simplifies an otherwise complex and intricate project, by utilizing Family Environmental’s consultant and IT resources to track and maintain all information of the Demolition Project and Management Services contract, and therefore, limit the amount of work imposed on the City. Thus, Family Environmental is completing documentation that is required for flood-affected structures and other natural disaster incidents, in order to produce comprehensive parcel documentation and resolution.

To date, Family Environmental continues to provide the City of Cedar Rapids with a seamless and comprehensive process to accurately manage the assessment, remediation and demolition of approximately 1,150 severely flood-affected residential structures and 100 commercial structures in a speedy, accurate and accountable manner.

Kansas City Success!

2009-11-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Local consulting firm achieves East Village success

Family Environmental shared in a historic moment on the morning of September 24^th, 2009.

Joined by city officials, Kingston Environmental, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and various media personnel, Family Environmental took part in a groundbreaking ceremony where golden sledgehammers were used to signify a new era of clean up and green building in Kansas City.

Contracted by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Capital Improvements Management Office (CIMO), to be the Design Professional for abatement and demolition activities at the former Greyhound Bus Depot in downtown’s East Village Redevelopment area, Family Environmental had the honor of overseeing the city’s first “green” project of this nature.

That honor came with the great privilege of uniting with city officials to unveil the “green” project to the rest of the city.

Family Environmental was contracted by CIMO to oversee several projects in the East Village Redevelopment area located in downtown’s blighted Eastside.

The area has been on the decline since the 1950s and is considered an eyesore by Mayor Mark Funkhouser, who must withstand its presence every time he looks out of his office window.

“Today, my wish came true,” Mayor Funkhouser to

ld local news channel, KCTV5, regarding the demolition of the former bus depot.

Prior projects in the East Village Redevelopment area included asbestos inspections, environmental assessments, design specifications and abatement/demolition oversight for both the Cherry Street Inn, former ReStart building and the former Fire Brigade Museum. However, the former Greyhound Bus Depot has been more of a landmark redevelop

ment project for the city; it is the first time the city has required that at least 90 percent of the building materials (i.e. concrete, CMU block, asphalt, and brick) be recycled and reused as engineered fill at the site.

Wayne Cauthen, City Manager, spoke at the ceremony and stated that this is the city’s first major sustainable redevelopment project and many city projects of this nature will follow suit.

Family Environmental has assisted the city and the EPA in redeveloping the East Village area which has received stimulus funding through the EPA’s Brownfields grant program.

The EPA’s Brownfields grant program selected the bus depot site due to its long-time vacancy and contamination with arsenic, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOC/SVOC), and asbestos containing materials.

Martha Cuppy, Acting Deputy Regional Administrator of the EP

A Region 7, stated the Brownfields program aims to continue to reduce vacant buildings and blight in East Village in order to redevelop the area into green space, town homes and office space.

The former Greyhound Bus Depot received funding through bonds and a clean up grant for $200,000 from the Brownfields program under the Recovery Act.

"Protecting our health and environment is a great way to build our economy"-Martha Cuppy, EPA.

Before Mayor Funkhouser,

City Manager Wayne Cauthen and other city representatives swung their golden hammers to break ground for demolition, Cuppy congratulated the city on its success and Cauthen made a few closing remarks.

“This event signified a very small part of the puzzle,” Cauthen said. But it’s a large part as well by allowing investment to occur, he said.

“This will bring a lot of stimulus to our downtown economy,” Cauthen added.

Mayor Funkhouser noted that the recycling of building materials is “another step toward making Kansas City a green city.”

Family Environmental is proud to be apart of the ongoing effort to redevelop and revitalize the downtown Kansas City corridor.

Hello Internet!

2009-11-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

Family Environmental starts a BLOG.