Detroit City Council approved a $52,000 contract Tuesday to replace contaminated soil at a single east side demolition lot, setting a per-site cost that alarmed members as hundreds of similar properties await testing across the city, Bridge Detroit reported.
The contract goes to Detroit-based DMC Consultants for work at 5562 Pennsylvania. The scope covers multiple rounds of soil testing, excavation, landfill disposal, and refill. Raquel Harrington, a representative for the city's Construction and Demolition Department, confirmed the total before the council's Public Health and Safety subcommittee on May 11.
Council member Denzell McCampbell ran the numbers out loud. "For $50,000, is that what we are going to be spending on each one of these sites that we find that the testing comes back that it is contaminated? Because, at that point, that is a lot of money," he told Harrington. Gabriela Santiago-Romero called it "a little maddening." Demolitions run $15,000 to $20,000 apiece. The remediation is costing more than twice that to fix a single hole.
Eric Cooper, a city procurement manager, said the Pennsylvania site was "one of the pricier ones" and that costs vary based on how much material needs to be removed and replaced. "I don't think you will see a lot of these," he said.
The contaminated soil traces to Gayanga Co., a Detroit demolition contractor the city has accused of using tainted backfill sourced from the former Northland Mall redevelopment site in Southfield. The city awarded Gayanga tens of millions of dollars in demolition contracts since 2018. Gayanga's owner, Brian McKinney, is the subject of a federal investigation. McKinney announced earlier this month that the company was folding and that he was filing a defamation lawsuit against the city.
Detroit's Office of the Inspector General suspended Gayanga last September after investigators identified the contaminated backfill practice. The suspension was lifted March 11 because the city's debarment ordinance caps suspensions at 180 days.
The city is now testing approximately 650 sites linked to various investigations. The Mannik and Smith Group has been doing the environmental analysis under a $1 million contract. The council is weighing a $3.5 million increase to that contract and delayed action on the increase for a second consecutive week Tuesday.
Tim Palazzolo, head of the Detroit Demolition and Construction Department, confirmed during Tuesday's session that the Pennsylvania lot's remediation flows from Mannik and Smith's ongoing sampling work.
Council President James Tate is pushing for a closed-session discussion on the contracts, costs, and what legal options exist to recover money from Gayanga. That session is expected in two weeks.
The $52,000 figure covers one lot. The city has not determined how many of the 650 sites under review are contaminated. The total bill will depend on how many come back positive and how deep each hole runs. Council has not voted on the Mannik and Smith contract expansion. When it does, that decision will set the ceiling on how far the city is prepared to go to document what Gayanga left behind.
