Ithaca Falls

[cbobcat49]

Did someone try to dam up the creek just before the crest of the falls or is that a natural formation?

[Matt]

There's a small generator building on top of the falls

[Matt]

Here's an article about the gun factory, contamination in the area and also explaining what's at the top of the falls.

Until several weeks ago, on the splintering and graffitied plywood boarding up the door a sign read, “This property is the subject of a Board of Zoning Appeals Hearing on ________ at _______ in City Hall at 108 E. Green St. Appeal # _______. For more information call the City Building Department at 274-6508.” Next to it was another that read, “THIS BUILDING IS UNSAFE and its USE and OCCUPENCY has been PROHIBITED by the BUILDING COMMISSIONER of the CITY OF ITHACA New York. It shall be UNLAWFUL for any person to REMOVE, DEFACE, or DESTROY this notice without permission from the Building Commissioner. Ithaca, NY Aug. 30,2006.”

These two signs on the face of the Ithaca Gun Factory display what many feel has become characteristic to the history of the building — pending action without resolution has condemned the 2.1 acre property at 121-125 Lake Street to an obscure and dangerous existence, with members of the community left to fill in the blanks and possibly suffer the effects.

Representatives of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environmental Protection Agency, Cornell University, the City of Ithaca and private developers and engineers have sought solutions for the Ithaca Gun Factory property for at least 10 years.

Over 125 years of history lie beyond the fence surrounding the factory with the accumulated objects in the dust. Much of this history was made by the Ithaca Gun Company, who manufactured guns and munitions at the site from 1880 to 1986 before declaring bankruptcy. The company was responsible for much of the early industry of Ithaca and Tompkins County, especially during the First and Second World Wars.

Cornell also has had a share in this history. Inside the fence, before entering the factory buildings, one might choose to walk through “Ezra’s Tunnel” — a waterway blasted through the gorge side at the direction of the founder of the University. The tunnel provided power for much of Ithaca’s early industry.

“Ezra Cornell blasted [the tunnel] to bring water down the tailrace for use of hydropower,” explained Robert Bland, a University environmental engineer and director of the University’s Environmental Compliance Office.

Also beyond the property towards the gorge is a cement landing directly over the rushing Ithaca Falls. The landing, and the land adjacent to the gorge including Ezra’s Tunnel, were formerly owned by Cornell.

“We used to own the land alongside the gorge, adjacent to Ithaca Gun Factory,” said Bland. “At one time we operated a hydropower electric generating plant on that land. We never owned the factory.”

The EPA, the DEC, the City of Ithaca, representatives of Cornell University and various owners of the property have indicated that the Ithaca Gun Company is responsible for the contamination of the site containing the factory buildings and the land from Lake Street to the gorge. Though it is not certain, it is likely that most of the hazardous actions committed by the company occurred at least 35 years ago. Evidence gathered over the past 10 years, though, has indicated the continued presence of a full range of hazardous substances from asbestos, lead and arsenic to mercury and even uranium.

The Ithaca Gun Factory stack can be seen above Ithaca Falls’ rushing waters. The DEC conducted a study of the factory site in 1995; despite its close proximity to the factory, the Fall Creek area was not tested until three years later, in 1998. In the area along Fall Creek between Stewart Avenue and Lake Street, including Ithaca Falls, the DEC found lead levels as high as 215,000 parts per million, more than 500 times the level recommended 400 parts per million.

This same land had been purchased by the City of Ithaca from Cornell four months before for the price of $1, as part of an agreement to allow for construction of the Lake Source Cooling Project in that area, according to a Sun article in August 2000. Additionally, Cornell collected and tested its own soil samples in the area surrounding the former factory in 1995, which gave evidence of a high lead concentration for the site, according to a Sun article in November 2003; immediately previous to the transaction between the City and Cornell, the DEC conducted a brief investigation into Cornell’s involvement with the contamination, but cleared the University of any fiscal responsibility.

According to Bland, Cornell was very public about its findings, and the City was aware of the contamination of the land prior to the transaction.

“A lot of the lead shot was disposed of on our land, so at some point in the ’90s the DEC asked us to sample it,” said Bland. “We took a number of samples and found the rough aerial extent of the lead concentrations. With full disclosure about the presence of lead, we sold the land to the City of Ithaca.”

Regarding the $1 price tag for the land, he added, “Well, it was contaminated.”

The levels of lead contamination were attributed directly to almost 100 years of manufacturing and testing conducted by the Ithaca Gun Factory. Nearly 10 tons of lead shot — the lead discharged by the testing of munitions — was the approximated level of contamination. It is still largely unknown to what degree erosion from the steep slope of the factory site, leading directly to the gorge, has contributed to the spread of contamination, or what the effects of this lead contamination have been and will be for the surrounding environment.

No signs warning community members of these dangers are currently posted in the Fall Creek area.

According to another Sun article in 1999, the factory site was referred to the EPA for an in-depth soil analysis, which revealed lead concentrations “as high as 21 percent” along with remnants of arsenic in various areas.

A year later in 2000, The Ithaca Journal reported the Department of Energy released a report citing the IGF as one of 500 nuclear testing sites across the country. The gun company had an early 1960s contract with the former Atomic Energy Commission regarding testing of uranium metal tubes.

In 2003 the Environmental Protection Agency stepped in, years after finding evidence of high levels of contamination from a study it conducted in 1999. Its 2003 assessment estimated the need for the removal of 2,370 tons of contaminated soil at a cost of approximately $4 million dollars, with contributions from the City of Ithaca, State Street Associates, L.P. II and Fall Creek Redevelopment. The City of Ithaca, was required to contribute $150,000. State Street Associates, which owned the factory buildings, was to pay $165,000, while Fall Creek Redevelopment, with plans to purchase and redevelop the property, was to pay $50,000.

The EPA also determined that the Ithaca Gun Factory, which re-organized after bankruptcy and now has offices and manufacturing facility in Kings Ferry, N.Y. would not be financially responsible for the remediation of the site. Additionally, Cornell University was deemed exempt from financial responsibility, due to its purchase of the site from a third party.

Previous to the EPA’s cleanup, the property was slated to be restored with help from the EPA’s Brownfields Program. Its website defines Brownfields as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance.” Again, the project ran into financial problems and cleanup was delayed further until April 2003, when the EPA’s remediation of the site began. The project met with difficulty due to the steep grade of much of the factory site and the area surrounding the gorge. The original deadline for completion was set until 2004, with work on the factory site not expected to begin until 2005.

The EPA’s cleanup was completed in 2004, at a total cost of $4.8 million, using Superfund resources.

“The Federal government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites,” according to the EPA.

Common Council minutes as recently as this past September warned against recontamination of the City owned land remediated by the EPA, and required use of temporary coverings such as tarps to minimize sediment transport from contaminated areas onto cleansed areas. In addition, the DEC’s assessment of environmental problems for the site states, “The primary contaminants of concern are lead and VOC’s. Site soils and groundwater are the primary media impacted.” Though indicating that the EPA had removed substantial amounts of lead-contaminated soil on and off site, the assessment continues, “Lead-contaminated soil remains in areas where it has potential to re-contaminate off-site areas, including waterbodies (the mill race and Fall Creek).”

Despite these warnings, recent testing of the soil from the property revealed lead concentrations, the main contaminant to be removed, at 460 times higher than the 2004 clean up goal originally set by the EPA, according to The Ithaca Journal.

The sign on the factory has recently been changed to announce a date for the Board of Zoning Appeals’ hearing for the site on Nov 3.

Currently, the City of Ithaca is working with a private owner in collaboration with a development and engineering firm to come to a cooperative solution using both private and public state funds for the site.

http://cornellsun.com/node/26384

[Matt]

Clean-up, Construction to Rejuvinate Ithaca Gun Site

Carefully climbing a rusty ladder, missing rungs, gives access to the upper roof of the Ithaca Gun Factory. The panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, extending to the horizon, is partially blocked by a smoke stack reading “Ithaca Guns” in white brick. The stack rises above the remains of this Gun Hill area which has been a community landmark since 1880. It may not stand for much longer.

The Ithaca Gun Factory site has had half a dozen owners in its over 125 years of existence. Despite evidence of hazardous contaminants and demands from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Ithaca for its remediation and demolition, the site, though fallen into dangerous disrepair, still stands at at 121-125 Lake Street. Allowing the site to exist has been determined hazardous, but saving the site thus far has been determined financially unfeasible.

The building was condemned and ordered to be demolished by City Building Commissioner Phyllis Radke in March of 2006.

A fire in August of 2006 and recent testing revealing still-present and significant lead levels conducted through the collaboration of Cornell student Myles Gray ’06 and Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, have renewed efforts at finding a solution for the site. Hang expressed his support for projects proposed for remediation and redevelopment for the site.

“The project was sitting there going nowhere; it was only a matter of time before a fire,” he said. “But it didn’t change the Common Council’s mind, and that’s why nothing happened.”

Since the bankruptcy of the Ithaca Gun Company, the property has been handed down through several owners. Following the failure of multiple plans for its remediation and redevelopment due to financial infeasibility, the City of Ithaca is now working with the private owner Wally Diehl, practice owner and manager of Fall Creek Redevelopment, LLC. Diehl is collaborating with the local development firm Travis and Travis Development, LLC and O’Brien and Gere Engineers, Inc. to come to a cooperative solution using both private and public funds for the site.

Frost Travis gave a brief chronology of ownership for the site. According to Travis, after the Ithaca Gun Company went bankrupt, the factory served as storage for a construction company until the whole parcel was bought by State Street Associates L.P. II. The company also does business as Gun Hill Residences, a property they own across Lake Street from the gun factory site.

“In 2001 Wally Diehl was interested in developing the site,” said Travis. “But he didn’t take title of the property until 2006.”

Diehl’s original proposal for redevelopment of the site consisted of 160 residential units in a seven story structure with a two-level parking garage. According to Travis, it needed a height and zoning variance and was zoned as industrial, despite widely expressed sentiments that it be used as residential space.

Travis said opposition from members of the community to the original proposal concerned the height of the building, blocked views, increased traffic flow, and the project being out of context with the neighborhood, in addition to the need for the proper remediation of contaminants.

Radke expressed support in 2003, around the time of Diehl’s first proposal.

“The significance of removing hazards that exist here extends beyond the current or future property owners and what they might do to improve the site,” she wrote. “The neighborhood and entire community stand to benefit as well.”

Neighborhood petitions with almost 400 signatures protesting the site proposal, also contained within the building department’s property file for the site, give evidence of community criticism.

Hang said, “These people didn’t want to deal with the challenge of cleaning up the site. It was about [the City’s] little local interests … they didn’t care about the health threat. They killed the proposal that would have cleaned this up because of 7 cars per hour.”

According to Travis, in order to move the project forward Diehl agreed to cut the proposal in half to 80 units and put a height restriction on the project so that it would stand no higher than the existing factory. Due to these limitations and the resulting restrictions on parking, the project became financially unfeasible without outside help.

The eventual resolution, and the current redevelopment proposal for the site, is “a public- private partnership” said Travis. The proposal was made with feedback from neighbors of the site.

The proposal would donate a parcel of the land to the City to be used as a park, with a public walkway along the western edge of the property to the area known as the “island” — an outcropping that overlooks Ithaca Falls and Cayuga Lake.

“It is a promenade, so that you can enjoy the valley view as you approach. It is also handicapped accessible,” added Travis.

In addition, the lessened number of 33 units will garner property taxes for the city.

“Of the $3.2 million taxable portion according to the grant application, it’s about $360,000 in taxes per year for the City,” said Travis. “It is a little better than a 10 year pay back, a 11-12 percent return on the state’s money.”

The proposal qualifies for funding as part of the ERP by the DEC which covers remediation on public lands, as part of the Voluntary Clean Up program for sub-surface contamination, and also as part of the state’s “Restore N.Y.” program.

Last November, the application for funding for the site was rejected by the Restore N.Y. program.

“They lit on this idea of the gun factory for the Restore N.Y. program late in the game,” said Travis. “The application wasn’t as strong as it could have been.”

According to Travis, the project is estimated at $13 million, with $3 million coming from these public sources, and $10 million coming from private sources.

Travis commented on why the developing team has been allowed to continue searching for funding sources and solutions despite demands from the DEC, the EPA and the City of Ithaca that the building be demolished more than a year ago.

“There has been a demolition order for quite some time,” said Travis.

Because Diehl was searching for a development partner, an extension was granted.

“We were approached only in the middle of May of this year. Since then we have been working diligently to move the project forward, whether it be with aligning support with the city and the grant applications. The money has to come from somewhere,” Travis said.

“The gun factory site is a posterchild for the grant program,” said Travis. “Those are the contaminants on the site: lead from the lead shot, and asbestos in the pipes and the window caulk. Those have to be removed; the building has to be removed — Restore N.Y. does just that.”

The verdict on this funding will be announced by the end of this year or the beginning of the next, according to Travis.

Just this past Tuesday, the development team for the site went before the Ithaca Planning and Development Board.

Chair of the Planning and Development Board and Sun Production Manager John Schroeder ’74 said, “A developer has the option at an early point, anticipating coming before the board, to come for sketch plan review.”

He added, “Sketch plan review allows the developer to present conceptually what he or she wants to do with the site. The clock isn’t ticking yet on the formal approval process — if there are concerns it allows them to be heard early in the process. The earlier in the process, the cheaper it is to address any issues.”

Schroeder expressed optimism about the newest redevelopment plan.

“Neighborhood people who were emotionally opposed to the first project say they are in support of this project,” he said. “That building is an ugly eyesore and it’s to the benefit of the community to get rid of it.”

Travis added a final detail to the proposed project that aims to preserve a part of the Ithaca Gun Factory’s history.

“We haven’t yet done a structural analysis,” Travis said. “But we intend to save the smokestack. It is an important part of the identity of the project.”

http://cornellsun.com/node/26431

[Brenda]

I'm really glad that they're going to try to save the stack. I'm pretty sure that Ithaca Gun went under again at the King Ferry location. This is one that I really struggle with because when this contamination was going on it was common practice. They weren't some huge global corporation; rather a local company that put out a fine product for many years. In the end I think that they just couldn't compete. The first gun that I bought Mike was a model 37 Featherlight for bird hunting (at the King Ferry factory). I then purchased the deer barrel for it a year or so later. It's truly a beautiful gun, and how many people can say that they know the people who made it? I wanted it because I saw "the writing on the wall" and I wanted to have one before they were gone. I'm very glad that I did.

[hoohaa]

I'll have to try shooting from the bridge. Can you get above the falls at all?

I don't know what the deal is or where you want to be above, but the person I was with knew Ithaca a little, so we went to a road (a dead end) that leads to a small park. Doesn't seem private as there was a place where you could meditate. Also a small little garage covered with and inside of graffiti. That is right at the top of the falls, when you look over the small wall. It's not a perfect view by any stretch, but a pretty neat vantage point.

[hoohaa]

Ithaca Falls from down below. Tough place to shoot, I thought, because it was so icy down there. Taken Dec. 26, 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO9TC8b8UGE

[hoohaa]

A closeup of the Falls. Dec. 26, 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlPJILo5Bas