Fairbanks, AK - The Army hopes to open the Taku Gardens Housing Development to military families later this year. The site was place on the Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘National Priorities List’ of Superfund sites in 1990. The Army began the 54-acre housing construction project in 2005. But the three, four and five bedroom houses are still vacant. Spokeswoman Connie Storch says the housing could help meet a growing demand at Fort Wainwright. “We’ve got a waiting list for military families and we’d like to see that it’s used for that purpose that we get families in there,” says Storch.
When the housing was under construction, personnel noticed stained soil and strange odors. PCBs were detected. Scrap metals, munitions debris and buried drums were discovered later. The Taku Gardens development used to be a communications site where military vehicles, solvents, motor oil and other pollutants were stored. But Storch says remediation of the site is complete.
“We’ve conducted tests over the years on soil and soil vapors and did some clean up, removed some of the soil and put in some testing equipment that is still on site in some housing today,” she says.
The Army will accept public comments on the future plan for Taku Gardens until mid-February. Comments will be reviewed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the EPA. The Army hopes to open the housing to military families by late summer or early fall.