Closed Landfill Brownfield Redevelopment in Cudahy, Wisconsin

SCS Engineers (SCS) served as the environmental engineer for the Cudahy Gateway Real Estate redevelopment project. The former 9-acre solid waste landfill was for prepared for redevelopment through a dynamic compaction process involving two cranes dropping 10-ton weights to compact the soil in order to create a solid foundation for construction.

The property was then capped and prepped for redevelopment, including incorporating provisions for special storm water and methane venting and monitoring. Through this strategy, a once undevelopable landfill is now home to five buildings and is operating as a successful commercial business.

SCS employed the following services to ensure redevelopment occurred:

• Design of storm water management plan; approved by the City of Cudahy and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
• Design of landfill gas barrier system, site development grading plan, site layout, pavement, and utilities.
• Oversight of dynamic compaction to stabilize the ground for building construction.
• Exemptions for key project components from the WDNR, including an exemption allowing SCS to build on the landfill and to use crushed concrete fill with low-level contamination on site to raise site grades in order to save on landfill disposal costs.
• Easement negotiations with adjacent property owners for site utility connections.
• Construction management for the buildings.