The redevelopment of a small park around the escarpment in Hamilton, Ont. is on hold after soil tests confirmed contamination around the site.
The discovery prompted the city to fence off much of Mountain Drive Park, at Concession and Mountain Park Avenue as a precaution.
Cynthia Graham, the city’s director of Environmental Services, says the discovery was made during routine soil testing ahead of constructing a new spray pad, sun shelter, playground and walkways within the park.
She says the areas in question don’t meet standards set out by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks for parkland soil.
“The contamination is only slightly above the guidelines for parkland use, so we anticipate that the risk posed is small,” Graham said. “The consultant report doesn’t explicitly call out the health risk, but fencing around areas of concern has been put up out of an abundance of caution.”
Graham adds that the find isn’t necessarily a surprise since some older infrastructure needing upgrades was built before existing provincial standards existed.
She says the amount of soil “isn’t a lot” and sits atop bedrock.
Additional testing across other areas in the park is expected to determine the extent of the contamination.
All soil around the redevelopment is expected to be removed after the examination and deposited in some sort of landfill.
Play structures will be closed until the Spring of 2025.