Environmental assessment, cleanup needed to clear Statuary lot

An environmental assessment and cleanup is needed before the former Statuary property on Mitchell’s Main Street can be razed and converted to a parking lot, City Council members learned this week.

The city’s 2009 budget included $273,370 to demolish and fill the property’s large underground structure, which was part of a car dealership for many decades. The money was not spent last year, and it appeared Monday on a list of budgeted items that the City Council is considering carrying over to the current budget.

Council President Jeff Smith noticed the Statuary line item and asked Public Works Director Tim McGannon for an update. McGannon said state government officials have authorized GeoTek, a Sioux Falls company, to analyze the materials in the underground structure. Those materials include paint and thinner, and potential asbestos in an old boiler.

The state officials indicated that after the analysis is finished, there may be federal funding available to remove the hazardous material.

“They’ll triple-bag it if that’s what it needs, put it in drums if that’s what it needs, and haul it off to an approved facility,” McGannon told the City Council. “So we think we’ll get the entire site stable and environmentally friendly before we start demolishing it.”

McGannon said he hopes the demolition of the underground structure will occur before next winter. He has plans to eventually put a parking lot on the property with a 10-foot-wide green space that will slope down from the parking lot to the sidewalk along Main Street.

The city also plans to fill the demolished basement cavity with “engineered fill,” which will make the site acceptable for any future construction that might occur there.

The site was most recently home to The Statuary, a business that sold concrete statues. The statues overwhelmed the site and were considered by some to be an eyesore.

In the spring of 2006, the Mitchell Area Development Corporation acquired The Statuary property in a three-way deal. At that time, development corporation Executive Director Bryan Hisel said Statuary owners Boyd and Kay Reimnitz got ownership of two vacated Mitchell Christian properties, the development corporation got ownership of The Statuary property and Mitchell Christian got $225,000 of city money funneled through the development corporation.

The development corporation conveyed the property to the city during the spring of 2007, and the Reimnitzes, who had been given time to vacate the property, conducted a statue clearance sale in September 2007. In November of that same year, the small building on the property, which had been sold by the Reimnitzes, was hauled away.

Since then, city officials have been attempting to get funding help for the cleanup and demolition of the underground structure, which they hope will come soon from the state and federal government. The city also upgraded some sewer pipe under the alley adjacent to the property last summer, which is something city officials wanted to complete before beginning the demolition.

The underground structure on the property was built in the early 1920s by Rozum Motor Co., which operated a car dealership on the site until 1980. Prior to Rozum’s purchase of the property, it was the site of the city’s second Corn Palace from 1905 to 1921.

Tags: city council, mitchell city council, main street, news, local, statuary