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VINEYARD, Utah County — A transformation expected to take up to 20 years to complete is under way at the former Geneva Steel site.
For 60 years, a steel mill operated on the 1,680 acre property, supported by more than 100 miles of railroad track and 100-plus buildings. Today, the land is being cleaned up and prepared for redevelopment.
The developer, Anderson Geneva, envisions a massive mixed-use project with residential, commercial and industrial uses.
So far, more than 140,000 cubic yards of concrete have been removed from the site as part of the cleanup.
"We've been taking out concrete, scrap metal and slag and doing all of the master planning that goes into something like this," said Stewart Park, Anderson Geneva project manager.
Contractors also have been putting in water and sewer lines, storm drains, roads and other infrastructure needed for development.
"We focused our efforts on the southern part of the property because it's the cleanest," Park said. "It is where most of the residential property is planned for and where it has been remediated to state standards."
More than 750 acres have been designated for residential use when the cleanup is complete.
Anyone can come here, build a home, live here and be confident and comfortable that they live on a clean piece of property.
–Stewart Park
"Anyone can come here, build a home, live here and be confident and comfortable that they live on a clean piece of property," he said.
Park says developers have been working closely with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to test soil and water samples.
"This is not a Superfund site," he said. "There is no toxic waste on this site. There is some hazardous waste, but we do have a plan to deal with all of that."
Park said those areas will be remediated for industrial use. A map of the development shows 5.5 million square feet of planned industrial land.
"We are currently under contract with a group that is going to mine over 2 million tons of iron fines (in that area) and send those to China to make steel," he said.
The 45,000 tons of scrap metal and 100 tons of copper extracted have been recycled, used and sold off for other purposes, Park said.
"Much of the slag for this particular site has ended up as road base for the new I-15 Core project," he said of the waste leftover from smelting metal.
