That beautiful, vacant piece of land you’re eyeing for your next development might be hiding a costly secret.
For much of the 20th century, farmers relied heavily on lead-arsenate pesticides to protect their stone fruit orchards. The problem? Those chemicals don’t just wash away. Lead and arsenic stick around in the soil for decades, creating a costly liability for developers today.
At Phoenix Environmental, we help CRE investors avoid getting blindsided by these hidden environmental risks.
Spotting the Invisible Threat
Identifying a former orchard rarely happens during the initial site visit. Occasionally, we might spot a few gnarly fruit trees, but usually, we uncover the hidden history during a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).
We know what to look for. Old stone fruit orchards have a very specific row pattern that we can spot in historical aerial photographs and topographic maps. From there, we often cross-reference records with the Farm Service Agency to pinpoint exactly what crops were grown on the land generations ago. Sometimes we can walk away an issue if we get enough data, but not always.
When History Disrupts Development Plans
Discovering an old orchard can drastically shift a project’s trajectory, timeline, and budget.
For instance, we evaluated a site in Eastern Ohio slated for a low-income housing development. During our historical research, we discovered the majority of the property was used orchard 50 years ago. There were no real signs on the site!
This completely changed the developer’s plans. We had to immediately pivot to a Phase II investigation to figure out exactly how far the contamination had spread. Instead of standard textbook methods, we had to get creative, using precise, multi-incremental soil sampling across the site to map out the exact footprint of the leftover pesticides. We installed over 300 shallow borings in one mobilization alone.
Creative Problem Solving in the Field
Sometimes, getting a developer the answers they need requires thinking outside the box—and occasionally finding ourselves in interesting situations.
During that same Eastern Ohio housing project, we needed to figure out the natural, baseline level of metals in the local soil so we could tell the difference between what was naturally occurring and what was leftover pesticide.
The best, most undisturbed location we found to test the “clean” background soil? A nearby cemetery.
We actually ended up out there drilling soil samples on Halloween. It makes for a great story, but more importantly, it provided incredibly useful data that helped us accurately map the contamination and keep the client’s project moving forward.
Protecting Your Investment and Your Community
Whether you are transitioning raw land into a residential neighborhood, a retail center, or a public park, the potential for lead and arsenic exposure is a liability you can’t afford to ignore.
Helping a client assess and clean up a site like this is always a rewarding challenge. It requires creative thinking and risk-protective solutions that make sense for your bottom line. By partnering with us, you aren’t just checking off a regulatory box—you are actively protecting your investment, public health, and the safety of future generations.
If your next project involves historical agricultural land, don’t wait for a costly surprise.
Contact Phoenix Environmental today to discuss how we can help you evaluate your site before you break ground.