The Mystery of the Pigweed Predicament

[XLFD]

I had originally prepped my camera for a brief photo essay on the City of Ludington being a bit neglectful of minding their lawn on the property of 428 E Dowland, a property they acquired in November of 2007 with the intention of making this four lot property the next Ludington Fire Station.  As I went there with my camera and my ruler, I started taking pictures with my 12 inch ruler showing that the pigweeds, that had somehow inundated themselves on Dowland following the streetwork done there this summer, were quite a bit taller than weeds are supposed to be until the City of Ludington considers a nuisance, whuch happens to be 10".  The city may serve written notice that the condition shall be abate...

As the City of Ludington's code enforcement team love to serve these on the people of Ludington (amazingly, I have been spared this indignity) I figured they could use a dose of their own medicine.  These lazy deadbeats let their pigweeds grow over two feet (that's over 24" for those who work at City Hall).  Here's some of the stuff in the right-of-way:

Tall Weed    Tall Weeds    One Really Big Weed

But then I noticed that the lot had a lot more bigger weeds in its interior, partially blocked by some sumac bushes, earth mounds, and vines.  Right near the "For Sale" sign the goldenrod is as big as the pigweed, and other weeds surpass the four feet mark (48"+  for those who work at 400 S. Harrison)

More Gigantic Internal Weeds     Even more Megaweeds

But it was when I took this picture of an oversized pigweed field further in this lot that something dawned on me.

Almost the whole lot in back of the sumacs and mounds was completely denuded of vegetation, as if someone had come and took out the topsoil of this lot and took it somewhere recently.  And it was rather recent, because the pictures of the lot in the realtors guide shows a regular lawn just earlier this year:

Which then turned into this:

And the sleuth in me said, 1) missing topsoil at 428 E Dowland  2) pigweed is prevalent on that lot  3)  a bit of topsoil was used in front of many E Dowland properties (like where I live) that lost sections of sidewalk or had some soil removed.  4)  pigweed is growing in front of all those properties.

I could be wrong without further proof either way, but I have to presume that the new topsoil in front of our houses/businesses on Dowland has been transplanted from this property, 428 E Dowland.  Usually, that shouldn't be a problem, but the history of this property was that it used to belong to Padnos and Brody and used as a place where scrap metal was salvaged (metal with various chemicals/paints on them), was considered as a Brownfield property in 2005, had an underground 500 gallon diesel tank until recent, and went directly from these private hands to public hands.   DEED 428 E Dowland.pdf    428 E Dowland (Future Fire Station) description

Were the environmental factors mitigated?  Is the possibly tainted soil from that lot replacing the topsoil of several Dowland properties going to present a hazard to the people who live at those properties?   If any of the people who worked at City Hall lived on Dowland Street, would they be happy with getting a bunch of soil definitely filled with pigweed seeds and possibly contaminated with metal residue, hydrocarbon residues, lead paints, and various other hazardous materials dumped in their front yard?

[XLFD]

I'm anxious to find that out myself, Willy.  EyE has shown that he is a professional psychologist, if you leave out the "logist".

[XLFD]

EyE,

I saw no indication that the Cadillac branch of the DEQ had any ethical problems or legal shortcomings.  I don't even have to look too hard to find it here in Mason County's various local governments. 

[Eye On Ludington]

XLFD,

First, I anxiously await to see what you obtained!

Second, I anxiously await to see how you will 'spin' it.

It should be interesting.

 

[XLFD]

Hate to disappoint you EyE, but I can only tell you I've spun it already to someone who may be able to do something about it.  So far City Manager Shay and Hallack Contracting haven't been very helpful in supplying answers.  That's pretty sad when there is the possibility of a lot of contaminated soil being spread along Dowland Street, including the front yard of the residence of Defendant City Manager John Shay's biggest critic. 

[Jane]

holy cow, I hadn't really read carefully but only scanned this thread, so you are saying that it is possible that the fill dirt used for some/all/part of the dowland repairs was old padnos property/land soil and  could therefore have bad things in it from a salvaging/scrap yard operation of years past??

I did not really understand what the big deal was about the soil(thinking that it was just the weeds you were concerned with, which still would not be right if the taxpayers paid for new top/fill soil) but now with that realization I am concerned that that soil could have been put where people and animals roam and play without some testing for heavy metals and such contaminants.

I would expect if everything was done above board that it would not be to hard to request(and receive) some laboratory reports clearing the soil for residential use and proving it is safe and not contaminated. Either tests done since padnos moved or specifically for this project.

Yikes, i have a hard time seeing the COL just giving a contractor word of mouth go ahead to use the dirt without something in writing and price adjusted for it.

[XLFD]

That's the main contention here, Jane.  That the 4 inches of topsoil that Hallack provided in everyone's right-of-way in the six blocks on Dowland was primarily soil from Padnos old lot.  

What can't be disputed is that Padnos' lot was denuded of plants and some topsoil on most of the front and middle lots, what also can't be disputed is that the records I saw on Thursday confirmed what most people might suspect of soil at a scrap yard that's been there for 60 years.  

The questions arise who did what with whose approval, and is the pigweed-rich soil of Padnos' lot(pigweed grows best in landfills and contaminated soils) spread down the street as topsoil.     

[XLFD]

I seen this earlier, and did some research.  Michigan law requires you to get a permit to dig a well (as noted here), so making a well ordinance in this area where there is no existing wells is redundant. 

If someone gets disgusted enough with the cost of water from the City, they still have to ask permission to drill a new well, and thus would be violating the law if they dug a well anyway.  Just one more useless law to bother with.

I think they may be concerned about the Padnos situation (what I am calling "Earthgate"), but they may be trying to figure out a solution to lessen their complicity in it, something that they won't discuss in an open meeting where some warped individuals may show up.  

[Willy]

This current group of City Councilors sure are an arrogant bunch. Of course the Mayor and City Manager are also included in that description.