&EPA
RIVERSIDE PARK
                                                                                              EPA-560-F-10-220
                                                                                                      July 2010
                                                   Oshkosh, Wisconsin
                                         Assessment and Cleanup Grants
                   Former Manufacturing Gas Plant Developed into
                       Public Performance Venue and Greenspace
    ADDRESS:          10 Court Street, Oshkosh, Wl 54901
    PROPERTY SIZE:     7 acres
    FORMER USE:       Wisconsin Public Service Manufacturing Gas Plant
                      (coal gasification)
    CURRENT USE:      Park, river walk, parking lot, and ampitheatre with a
                      performance pavilion and concession building
    EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
    The City of Oshkosh used $55,000 of its
    Brownfields Assessment grant awarded
    in 2003 and a $200,000 Brownfields
    Cleanup grant awarded in 2004.
PROJECT PARTNERS:
Oshkosh Area Community
Foundation, Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources, Leach Family
Foundation
For additional data and geographic information for this and
other Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's Cleanups in
My Community - http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/
   PROJECT BACKGROUND:
   In the early to mid 1900s, the edge of the Fox River was the industrial center of Oshkosh. From 1868 to 1950 Wisconsin
   Public Service (WPS, originally the Oshkosh Gas Light Co.) converted coal into gas, through coal gasification in this
   industrial area. The resulting new energy source was welcomed by residents and businesses that used the gas to replace
   other, less efficient fuels. Over its years of operation, the plant produced coal tar, a by-product of the coal gasification
   process, which infiltrated the property's soil and ground water. In 1950, a pipeline was built to transport natural gas
   into the city, rendering the facility obsolete. WPS performed a cleanup of the site in 2002, using thermal treatment and
   capping, and the city purchased the property in December 2003. The city used an EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant to
   enable reuse of the property as a park. EPA funds were used to reconstruct the environmental cap and pave the parking
   lot as an engineered control.
   KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

   •   With assistance from an EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant awarded to the City,
       the environmental cap was essentially removed, the surface of the waste
       re-graded and an improved cap installed.

   •   Designed and constructed innovative trench system to allow tree plantings
       to be incorporated in the park design without impacting the integrity of the
       environmental cap.

   •   Leveraged more than $4 million in funding from public and private sources.

   OUTCOME:

                                      Musical group the BoDeans play to a packed house
                                              at the Leach Amphitheater.
   Riverside Park is currently a recreational and entertainment hub for Oshkosh residents. Its public Leach Amphitheater
   (with capacity for 7,000) hosts large summer concerts including the annual Waterfest, which draws over 60,000 visitors,
   as well as other sporting events like the Oshkosh half-marathon. The City of Oshkosh leveraged more than $4 million
   in public and private donations to make this redevelopment possible. Sources of funding for this project include the
   Wisconsin Department of Natural Reources' Greenspace and Public Facilities Grant, Capitol Improvement Program
   funding, and more than $2 million in private donations.
      FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields or call EPA Region 5 at (312) 886-3058

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