For the 2nd or 3rd time, it has been announced that the old ALCOA West Plant will be developed as a City of Alcoa town center with a mixed-use design including retail, office, and residential.

A concern with this site is that it is classified as a brownfield, the site has a limited number of known environmental constraints affecting development placement.

It is not easily determined by a mere citizen what areas of the site are contaminated.

I received a report from a resident that went to the most recent meeting. Indications are that the contaminated areas will be covered so that the sites are not disturbed and will not be hazardous.

My concern is I would like to know what areas are contaminated so that I do not go to those areas. More specifically, I would hope that they will not build on those sites. Protections can fail.

For example, in May, 2017, it was reported by the Maryville Daily Times, the Alcoa High School baseball field was placed on an old parking lot for ALCOA Inc.’s fabrication plant. "Under the warranty deed for the property, the school district could not remove the parking surface because of possible contamination on the site and instead covered it with 12 to 15 inches of fill dirt." The fix has failed and created a swamp and an unusable ball field. "Alcoa City Schools will need permission from both the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and Arconic Inc. (previously ALCOA)" to fix the problem.

We can only hope these contamination problems can be remediated so that problems don't cause problems in the future or reappear.