Contaminated soil removal begins at Gordo property along route 248

Gordo property. Photo: Park City Municipal

Over 30,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be transported from the town-owned property to the Three Mile Landfill. The future use of the property is still undetermined.

PARK CITY, Utah — On Thursday, the Park City Council approved contracts to begin removing over 30,000 cubic yards, or nearly 2,600 dump trucks’ worth, of contaminated soil from the Gordo property and transporting it to the Three Mile Landfill in Coalville this year.

The soil has been stored on the 22-acre property, known as the Gordo property, because it already contained contamination from Park City’s mining days. Over the years, as various construction projects took place in Park City proper, contaminated soil needed to be brought somewhere, and the Gordo property became that repository. The Gordo property is located along State Route 248 near Quinns Junction, across from Richardson Flat Road, tucked behind PC Hill.

In 2021, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality sent a letter to the Park City Council requiring them to come up with a plan to get rid of the contaminated soil. According to a staff report, a year later, Park City entered into a state-run environmental cleanup program, which helped them come up with corrective steps to deal with the lead and arsenic-laden land.

The process found that the site is currently unsuitable for residential or commercial uses of any kind and that all the soil would need to be removed before the land could be put to use. Possible plans, proposed as recently as March of 2024, for the Gordo property have included a project with a new transit hub, housing, community recreation, parking and town maintenance facilities. 

Although a little over $4 million was budgeted for the soil cleanup, officials say it will cost closer to $2.6 million since the soil can be brought to the Three Mile Landfill in Summit County instead of transported to Tooele.

The city has contemplated using funds left over from a $15 million deal with Deer Valley Resort to build a transportation facility along state route 248. Still, council members have not decided how best to use the Gordo property in the future.

Much of the plans’ impetus has revolved around alleviating chronic traffic between Quinn’s Junction and Park City proper.

The contract for the soil removal project was given to Terracon Consultants in Midvale. Terracon is the same company the town hired for the sampling and corrective action plan.

Officials anticipate the soil cleanup will be complete by November 2024.