2004 Demonstration Project
MGM Brakes:
Cloverdale, California
THE SITE: The MGM Brakes Superfund Site occupies five acres in
Cloverdale, Sonoma County, California. The site borders a main thoroughfare
very close to California Highway 101. For twenty years, the MGM Brakes
facility manufactured cast aluminum brake components for large motor
vehicles. Discharge of wastewater from the casting plant led to poly chlorinated
biphenyl (PCB) contamination in soils and volatile organic compound (VOC)
contamination in ground water. Since 1998, the largely remediated site has
remained idle. In a Five-Year Review issued in January 2004, EPA declared
the site's remedy to be protective—soil cleanup has long been complete and
semi-annual ground water monitoring will continue until safe drinking water
standards have been achieved. Only one well continues to exceed safe drinking
water standards and neither of these is located on the MGM Brakes property. It
is expected that ground water cleanup goals will be achieved by 2014.
THE OPPORTUNITY: The site sits on a busy highway and is zoned for
highway commercial uses. Under the Return to Use initiative, a collaborative
local and EPA effort to support the reuse of cleaned up Superfund sites, EPA
Regional staff are working with local stakeholders to enable the commercial
redevelopment of the site.
THE BARRIER: Institutional controls do not allow excavation of more than
one cubic yard of earth from a depth greater than 15 feet below ground surface.
This precaution applies to only 1.2 percent of the site's land area and should not
impede the site's reuse. The primary obstacle to reuse is the stigma associated
with the property as a Superfund site.
THE SOLUTION: In an effort to combat the negative associations with the
property, EPA has declared the MGM Brakes site ready for commercial reuse in
a Ready for Reuse (RfR) Determination, signed on February 2, 2005.
COMMERCIAL REUSE PLANNING: EPA hopes that the Ready
for Reuse Determination will give prospective buyers confidence to pursue
redevelopment of the property.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Gary Rilev at rilev. garv@,epa.
gov or (415) 972-3003 or Janet Rosati at rosati janetigiepa.gov or (415) 972-
3165.
Barrier:
Superfund site stigma
Solution:
RfR Determination
Before:
Cleaned up manufacturing site;
five acres of fenced, vacant land
along a major highway in Sonoma
County
After:
Five acres of land ready for
commercial redevelopment
united btates
Environmental Protection
Agency
Superfund Redevelopment Initiative
J
updated June 2009
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