Cleanup Complete

FAYETTEVILLE — An abandoned industrial site in southeast Fayetteville can now become city parkland.

Officials with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality presented Mayor Lioneld Jordan with a certificate Thursday stating cleanup of the former R&P Electroplating property at 2000 Pump Station Road is complete.

The chromium metal plating company closed in 1997.

Washington County property records indicate the land was owned by Frank and Arthur Pummill.

Vandals broke into a warehouse on the property in 1998. Police discovered dozens of containers of hazardous material that had been abandoned, including copper and silver cyanide; chromic, hydrochloric and sulfuric acid; caustic soda; industrial solvents; and cleaning solutions.

State environmental officials removed all hazardous and non-hazardous material in 2010 and monitored groundwater for contamination during the past two years. Groundwater from the site flows into the West Fork of the White River, which eventually feeds into Beaver Lake.

Katherine Benenati, spokeswoman for the department, said Thursday no further remediation is needed.

Parks and Recreation staff members plan to convert the site into a field for Ultimate, a game using a flying disc, and other sports. A trail, pavilion and picnic tables are also planned.

The 5.8-acre property links the city’s White River Baseball Complex with Combs Park, where a model airplane club operates. A fishing hole is also in the area.

“We are very excited to have (this land) as part of the Parks and Recreation Department,” Connie Edmonston, department director, said Thursday.

The Arkansas Brownfields program paid the $2.6 million cleanup cost.

Several years ago, the program paid to remediate land adjoining the city airport that was contaminated with chlorinated solvents from the Kearney National plant. The company did metal plating and lead fusing 1954-97.