Tire Dump

[jreist]

Had a nice drive today to check out property for sale in the Town of Fort Erie. We have been looking for some land with some acreage so we can grow Daylilies. We saw the listing for 12 Acres zoned agriculture and had to check it out.

After driving for over 2 hours and making a detour around Indian bockages in Caladonia, we found the property and from the road it looked alright. There was an abandon garage on the property with 3 bays. Sure we can tear it down build a house no problem.

My wife went back to the car, but I thought there was something else going on. The property was surrounded by a metal fence and the ground look funny as well there was considerable amounts of rock dumped all over the place.  As I walked back over the land I noticed that there where tires lying around, as I took a closer look you could see the outline of tires under the soil.  What I concluded was the property was an old tire dump and the tires had been barred and the rock was piled on top to keep them down. 

I had to explain to my wife that this was a definite NO. Has anyone had to deal with a property like this and what would the cost be of cleaning it up, I don't think you could build on it the ground would be unstable and the water would be undrinkable.

The other property in Fort Erie was not as bad but had piles of concrete sidewalk  and asphalt slabs.  What would be the cost of clean up??

[Rob]

I would say the cost would completely depend on how clean you want the area and what it may be used for.

If you removed all of the dirt and replaced it, dealt with the rain water run off issue and build a new drainage system then the bill could run into the thousands or if hundreds of thousands depending on the size. 

Although if you just paved over the entire property, it could be easier to deal with the issue and much less costly. 

I've since people do things like add a layer of gravel and make areas like that into a park.  I'm not really sure how safe that is in the long run.  I think the biggest problem you may have is when water gets into the soil and those containments start leaving the soil.

[Frank]

After reading your message on this one, I thought I knew the site and went for a drive.  Sure enough, this was once the site of an old garage and a tire dump - tires have been removed under order, but who knows what condition the soil is in - an environmental study would be needed with soil sampling, etc..  Lots of these site around, and clean-up costs are significant as the soil has to be special handled, hauled and treated at special sites.

Former owners of this site are currently incarcarated for various reasons that made headlines a number of years ago.  I won't elaborate - but you know.

[jreist]

Just looked at the Ontario Gazzette and this property is being listed again. I guess the town is does nt even want it. 

[kcu]

Why not just buy the land and flip it to an investor?
13 acres is a lot of land.

[jreist]

When selling a property you are required to tell the buyer problems with the property you can't keep secrets. If you can find someone who is willing to buy the land you may require you to do testing before the sale. If you can't find anyone who is willing to buy the property you are stuck with it and the enviromental clean up.

Why not just buy the land and flip it to an investor?
13 acres is a lot of land.

[Frank]

Anyone interested in buying this property from you in the future will do a title search and notice that it was used as a gas station site for a number of years, then they will come across a notice on title (placed there by the MOE) that the property was a scrap yard and tire dump. 

Good luck trying to flip this property without being required to do a full environmental clean up on it.

[speedfreeksteve]

Any ideas why the previous sale was cancelled? 

[Rob]

The sale wasn't cancelled.  When they put the property up for a tax sale they received no bids then a short time later they put that same property back up for a tax sale hoping someone will take it off of the cities hands.

[jreist]

I thought when there is no bids the city takes it over and it gets sold on the market. 
so even the city wants to stay away.