04005_State Farm Rd_Compliance Response_2021June03

June 3, 2021

Sent via Email: [e-mail]; [e-mail]

Mr. Joe Tissue
Tissue Law Offices, PLLC
10612-D Providence Road
Charlotte, NC 28277

Re: Brownfields Compliance Audit
Brownfields Project: State Farm Road (#04005-00-095)
Boone, Watauga Co.

Joe:

I have reviewed your May 28, 2021 email regarding Glen Wilde-Boone, LLC’s (current owner)
compliance with the Notice of Brownfields Property and Amendment of Notice of Brownfields Property
(collectively ‘Notice’) recorded at the Watauga County register of deeds book 665, page 840 and book
1946, page 858, respectively. Your correspondence seeks to obtain additional assurances based on a
potential buyer’s request for past compliance concerns.

On May 26, 2021 I provided an email correspondence to current owner representative, David
Dupree, and you regarding the Brownfields Program’s (NCBP) review and acceptance of the corrected
lease addendum containing the required statement provided by Land Use Restriction (LUR) #9 of the
Notice. No other actions are required to comply with that LUR’s requirements. However, should any
material changes of the approved lease addendum occur, please send the NCBP a copy of such changes
for our review and/or approval as stipulated in the LUR.

The following is also intended to address the additional items of concern listed in your May 28th email,
which are copied below verbatim (italicized) along with NCBP responses:

1. “The 2001 Brownfields Agreement required the original developer to head up and close the
existing spring on the property. This provision was repeated verbatim in the 2018
Amendment. Although we think the spring cistern was removed and the spring closed long
before our client’s acquisition of the property in 2018, the repetition of the provision in the
Amendment is causing the buyer to think this may still be an open item. The site of that
spring, as shown on the original Brownfield plat, is currently a student parking lot, and there
is no other open spring on the property.”

NCBP response: Based on the Amec 2011 Remedial Investigation Report1 for incident
NONCD0001139 submitted to the Division of Waste Management (DWM), Inactive
Hazardous Sites Branch within the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Section
1.4.3.2 Receptor Survey recounts that the former spring and water supply well located at 600
Page 2 of 3 State Farm Rd Compliance Audit June 3, 2021

State Farm Rd were eliminated during construction of two residential buildings. Additional
remarks by Prospective Developer included for LUR #4 in the 2010 Land Use Restriction
Update filed for the same parcel/property location conveys that the retention pond was built
for Phase II impervious water and spring. Unfortunately, no other reports or plans concerning
the headed-up spring could be found at this time. However, given the information provided in
the 2011 Report, 2010 LURU documentation and that LUR 6 requires on-going monitoring
of pond surface waters for said location, no additional spring closure reporting would be
necessary from a follow-on owner unless new information suggests otherwise.

2. “The 2001 Brownfields Agreement required the original developer to submit a plan for
management of surface runoff and stormwater. This provision was also repeated verbatim in
the 2018 Amendment. I suspect that plan would have shown the flow of surface waters into
the then not-yet constructed detention pond shown on the 2001 Brownfields plat as
“proposed wet retention pond.” In our search of the DEQ file concerning this project, we
could not find any specific surface water management plan.”

NCBP response: Again, based on the Amec 2011 Remedial Investigation Report for incident
NONCD0001139 submitted to the DWM, Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch within the DEQ,
Section 1.4.3.2 Receptor Survey recounts that the former spring and water supply well
located at 600 State Farm Rd were eliminated during construction of two residential
buildings. Additional remarks by Prospective Developer included for LUR #4 in the 2010
Land Use Restriction Update filed for the same parcel/property location conveys that the
retention pond was built for Phase II impervious water and spring. Unfortunately, no other
reports or plans concerning the retention pond could be found at this time. However, given
the information provided in the 2011 Report, 2010 LURU documentation and that LUR 6
requires on-going monitoring of pond surface waters for said location, no design plans for
stormwater/runoff are necessary from a follow-on owner unless new information suggests
otherwise (e.g. Any changes to existing stormwater permitted conditions for redevelopment
activities may require additional review by NCBP).

3. “There is language in the Amendment that before any building may be used for residential
purposes, DEQ must either receive and approve an assessment from a licensed engineer that
the building is safe for [residential] use, or the developer must comply with any DEQ
imposed requirements for vapor mitigation. For the student housing buildings, test results
and an assessment were provided by GeoScience & Technology, P.A.., and no vapor
mitigation system was required. There is, however, an existing radon mitigation system that
was installed (we believe) by the original developer in order to comply with the Boone
building code. Our buyer is looking for assurances that DEQ does not require any specific
maintenance or reporting with regard to this existing mitigation system.”

NCBP response: During the agreement amendment process to include residential use at the
Brownfields Property, NCBP required additional assessment to verify sub-slab soil vapor
conditions for the residential buildings. The mentioned GeoScience & Technology, P.A.
report submitted to Mr. Tony Duque with the NCBP on June 17, 2016 indicated that very low
levels of soil vapor contaminants were present, mostly attributed to construction materials,
and no additional vapor mitigation systems were recommended for the buildings residential
use. No further correspondences were noted from Mr. Duque to the then owner or to
GeoScience & Technology, P.A. concerning additional investigations to assess a vapor
intrusion risk. Additionally, lab results for the identified compounds provided with that report
were recently entered into our DWM July 2020 Risk Calculator2 for both on-site residential
Page 3 of 3 State Farm Rd Compliance Audit June 3, 2021

buildings. The final calculations showed no calculated risk exceedances for residential use
indoor air. At this time no further assessments or testing of the radon mitigation system are
required for purposes of LUR 4 of the Amended Notice. Although the installed radon system
was not approved by NCBP for purposes of vapor mitigation, should conditions regarding the
radon system change such that it does not function as designed then additional assessment
may be required by NCBP to confirm ongoing compliance with LUR 4.a.

I hope that the above responses provide additional clarifications to your compliance concerns
with respect to the recorded Notice and follow-on ownership. Feel free to contact our Program Manager,
Bruce Nicholson at [e-mail] or me at [e-mail] should you have
additional questions about the above information.

Sincerely,

David Peacock
Environmental Senior Specialist
Brownfields Program

Ec: Project file
Bruce Nicholson, NCBP Program Manager, [e-mail]
David Dupree, Glen Wilde-Boone, LLC, [e-mail]

1 The Amec 2011 Remedial Report can be viewed online here:
https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/WasteManagement/DocView.aspx?id=1584590&dbid=0&repo=WasteManagement&searchid=c5bc9c3
6-d236-4060-bf3b-4f06fc120643
2 DWM Vapor Intrusion Guidance: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/waste-management-permit-
guidance/dwm-vapor-intrusion-guidance