San Diego – The PETCO Park and East Village revitalization project recently received a Phoenix Award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its positive affect on a formerly neglected area of San Diego. The award honors groups and individuals who solve the environmental challenges of transforming abandoned industrial or otherwise blighted areas into productive new uses. The national award, given out once a year at the EPA Brownfields National Conference, is one of only nine given to projects in the U.S. The project was a collaboration between the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), Opper & Varco LLP, SCS Engineers (SCS) doing business as Environmental Business Solutions in San Diego, and the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health.SCS also provided assistance to the CCDC with cost recovery efforts under California’s unique Polanco Redevelopment Act, which requires property owners to be accountable for cleaning up hazardous materials on their property, and to remediate contaminated soils and water. The 47.5-acre site was formerly an area that was largely blighted and abandoned warehouses and industrial yards. SCS was instrumental in the successful redevelopment of this downtown San Diego area, which resulted not only in the construction of the ballpark home of the San Diego Padres, but also numerous hotels, condominiums, restaurants and parking structures.“We were dealing with more than a hundred years of industrial uses and their waste products,” said SCS Project Manager Chris Spengler. “Nobody looking at that site before the ballpark could have imagined the new housing, jobs, and entertainment venues we have today. It was a spectacular rebirth.”This marks the fifth award given to the PETCO Park project. It received an Alonzo award from the Downtown San Diego Partnership; a Brownfield Project of the Year Award from the California Redevelopment Association; a Smart Growth Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute, San Diego/Tijuana Chapter; and was named Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association, San Diego and Imperial Counties Chapter. The EPA will present the Phoenix Award at its November 4, Brownfields 2005 ceremony in Denver, Colorado.
