The cleanup operation on a Collettville property expected to yield 60 tonnes of debris has far exceeded what the city had anticipated.

In total, more than 500 tonnes of debris were removed from a property on Walnut Avenue, which had formerly been used as an auto wrecking facility.

City bylaw officer Bob Davis initially estimated the weight of the debris that would be removed to be about 60 tonnes — which would have exceeded the tonnage the City of Merritt removed from all properties it cleaned up last year combined.

“It got down to the point where, I guess, even some of the piles that we were looking at were 60 tonnes,” Davis said.

With the overrun of debris came an overrun of costs.

Del Black of Vicky’s A Little Off The Top Landscaping — the lead contractor for the cleanup operation — said had the operation accumulated the estimated 60 tonnes, the $10,000 estimate would have been accurate.

Over 1,000 tires were removed from the property, which was formerly used as an auto-wrecking site. Michael Potestio/Herald

Over 1,000 tires were removed from the property, which was formerly used as an auto-wrecking site. Michael Potestio/Herald

Instead, the tonnage was more than eight times the expectation.

Black said there were 20 tonnes of steel, 890 kilograms of yard waste and 700 litres of mixed liquids such as oil, diesel and paint removed from the property. There was also plenty of demolition waste and wood.

There were also 1,028 tires — 256 of which were on rims — removed from the property. About 40 tanks of propane, of which still had some propane left in them, were removed as well, Black said.

Black said the single heaviest piece of debris removed from the property was a 22,000-pound slab of concrete.
In all, crews made 51 trips to the dump in the cleaning effort.

Black also said they had someone from Kamloops come to the property to separate tires with rims, which saved about $10,000.

The property borders the Coldwater River and a wall of concrete blocks and a few crushed cars embedded in the riverbank along the property were left behind in the cleanup operation.

Davis said he consulted the Department of Fisheries and Oceans about removing those cars.

“Their take on it was it would be a greater issue to remove them than it would be to leave them there,” he said.

“By disturbing what we see, we may be uncovering far greater issues than having those there,” Davis said.

The property is in receivership, meaning the city has custodial responsibility over it since the death of its owner last year.

The City of Merritt is expected to be able to redeem the cost of the cleanup operation.

If the cost of the cleanup isn’t paid up front by the property’s estate, it will be added to the property’s taxes for 2015 at the end of the year, City of Merritt planning and development services manager Sean O’Flaherty said.

The cars embedded in the banks of the Coldwater River were not removed as part of the cleanup. Michael Potestio/Herald

The cars embedded in the banks of the Coldwater River were not removed as part of the cleanup. Michael Potestio/Herald

The property is now zoned for residential use.

O’Flaherty said it’s possible that there are pockets of soil on the property that would need to be removed given the types of fluids found during the cleanup.

Prospective purchasers of the property would need to have the soil tested for contamination if development were to take place on it, O’Flaherty confirmed to the Herald.

Contaminated soil would then need to be remediated, but the cost of these initiatives would be covered by the purchaser and not the city.