Oak Creek project hits costly roadblock

By Joe Lanane

Economics will decide whether Oak Creek relocates residents or cleans the contaminated site of a proposed city flood plain in order to make way for a road expansion.

A $6 million expansion of West Drexel Avenue is expected to displace a portion of flood storage plain, said City Administrator Gerald Peterson, triggering an Oak Creek ordinance that requires the city provide compensating flood storage space in the immediate area.

The seven-year-old ordinance could prove costly in this instance, as nearby sites under consideration for extra storage would require environmental cleanup or resident relocation.

Properties at 2121 and 2211 W. Drexel Ave. are ideal sites for replacement flood plain, said Matt Sullivan, the city’s design engineer, because of their proximity to the displaced flood plain resulting from the roadway expansion. ?But an initial environmental assessment of 2121 W. Drexel Ave. identified significant environmental concerns, such as evidence of uncontrolled brick disposal, roofing materials, automobile tires, metal scrap, potentially buried oil drums and possible foundry slag or sand.

“A lot of that contamination happened back in the late 1950s, so you don’t know until you test it to what extent and exactly what materials are there,” Sullivan said. “It could be very minor, it could very bad — we don’t know. There are a lot of unknowns.”

To get a better idea of exactly how much cleanup of the site could cost, the city has authorized spending up to $19,600 for a second environmental assessment of the property.

An initial environmental assessment of 2211 W. Drexel Ave. found no recognized environmental contaminants.

The city may consider an alternative location to the combined properties on West Drexel Avenue if environmental cleanup there proves too expensive, Peterson said, but no decisions will be made until the assessment is complete.

“If this location proves to be a very difficult, expensive, and impractical site, we will look at alternatives at that point,” he said. “Obviously, we’re going to look at what’s most cost effective.”

The city has identified an alternative location, Peterson said, which would require Oak Creek relocate occupants of at least one home. Sullivan would not identify the alternate location, saying the homeowner at the property is not aware that space is part of the city’s contingency plan.

Oak Creek has already relocated one couple, Roy and Jill Castillo of 2341 W. Drexel Ave., to accommodate the roadway expansion, which will have anticipated traffic from a new interchange diverting traffic from Interstate 94 into the city. The two-lane stretch of Drexel Avenue is being converted into a four-lane highway that will triple the street’s current width, Sullivan said.

The city closed on the Castillos’ property for $85,000, and state statute requires Oak Creek also pay up to $25,000 for their relocation. An occupancy agreement allows the couple to remain in the home until June 30.

Two more homes already are expected to be displaced as a result of the expansion project and City Engineer Mike Simmons said his department will remove additional homes, if necessary, to provide alternative flood storage.

“This compensating storage is non-negotiable,” he said, “so we need to account for that and get it done.”

The I-94 Drexel Avenue interchange will more than triple traffic, making the street expansion an important project to the city, Peterson said. Despite the environmental concerns Oak Creek has faced, he said there may be other viable alternatives available the city has not yet considered.

“You encounter many of these hurdles as you go through a large project like this,” Peterson said. “All you can do is address them one at a time.”

The decision to pay for environmental cleanup or relocate homes will be determined by city officials, Sullivan said, but he has his own preference.

“If we have an environmental area we can handle financially, quickly and carefully versus relocating homes and people,” he said, “then obviously that’s our ideal choice.”