MABEL DAVIS PARK
                                                                   Austin, TX
                                                                     RLF Grant
                                    Turning Trash into Treasures:
                     A Former Landfill Becomes a Community Asset
     ADDRESS:        3427 Parker Lane, Austin, TX 78741
     PROPERTY SIZE:   50 acres
     FORMER USE:     Gravel quarry and landfill
     CURRENT USE:    Public park with basketball court, swimming pool,
                   playscape, picnic area, skate park, and walking trails
     EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
     The Austin Brownfields Redevelopment
     Office provided $500,000 in EPA
     Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund funding
     to the City of Austin.
PROJECT PARTNERS:
Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality, City of
Austin Remediation Project
                             For additional data and geographic
                             information for this and other
                             Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's:
                             Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/
                             html/bms/bms_query.html
                             Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/
    PROJECT BACKGROUND:

    The Mabel Davis property operated as a gravel quarry until 1944; from 1944-1955, the site was used as a municipal
    waste landfill. It is suspected that illegal dumping occurred after the landfill's closure. In 1974, the City purchased the
    property in order to clean up and redevelop it into a park; after remediating the site, it formally opened as a park in
    1979. Trouble began when a creek running through the park began eroding a portion of the former landfill area contained
    within the park. Maintenance work conducted in 2000, which aimed to rebuild the creek and prevent exposure of landfill
    contaminants, revealed elevated levels of lead in the soil. This prompted an immediate closure of the park to the public,
    and site sampling ensued to determine the scope of contamination. Assessments conducted in 2000 and 2002 further
    revealed pesticides in the soil from a spill in 1979 that was cleaned up to meet standards of that time, but not today's
    more stringent standards. In December 2003, the  City of Austin approved a loan of $488,566 for site cleanup, and the
    loan agreement was signed on May 31, 2004.

    KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

    •  The park is home to Austin's first skate park

    •  Remediation provided 25 additional acres of greenspace

    •  Leveraged $7,300,000 in cleanup funding from the City of Austin
       Remediation Project

    OUTCOME:

    Funded by the City of Austin Remediation Project, cleanup was completed
    in November of 2005. This included removing contaminated soil in some
    locations and capping soil in others. The creek was rebuilt and battery casings, the source of the lead-contaminated soil,
    were removed by hand. On December 3, 2005, Mabel Davis Park officially opened. The park includes a basketball court,
    Olympic-sized swimming pool, playscape, picnic area, skate park, and 30 acres of open greenspace.
                                                Austin's new Skate Park.
   FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 6 at (214) 665-6780

-------