Motorists driving by the Blazing Star Landing site during the past few weeks may have noticed some excavation taking place on both the south and west ends of the land.

City Engineer Steven Jahnke said the work being completed on the former Farmland Foods site is in conjunction with the cleanup at the former North Edgewater Park dump site.

Contaminants at the Edgewater site were found to be seeping into Edgewater Bay in the late 1980s, and over the past several months contractors under the direction of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have been hauling the contaminated soil to a lined cell near the Albert Lea Transfer Station and Demolition Landfill.

Because there is extra space in the cell and it has not yet been closed, the city is transferring some contaminated soil from the Blazing Star Landing site there as well.

Jahnke said city staff have transferred about 4,500 yards of soil — which had fuel-oil contamination.

The excavation is being done with city funds, but because the cell was open, it was able to be done at a much cheaper rate than it would have been otherwise, he said. If the city had used a different landfill cell site, it would have cost around $30 per yard of waste, but because staff were able to take advantage of the already opened cell, it is only costing $6.50 per yard.

Transfer of the contaminated soil cost about $30,000, with the Shell Rock River Watershed covering the last 500 yards of removal, Jahnke said.

This will take care of the primary area of concern at the site, he added.

On the western side of the Blazing Star Landing, city staff are also hauling the demolition debris of the former wastewater treatment plant. This cost about $70,000.

“It was a good opportunity for us to tie the two projects together and clean up the contamination,” Jahnke said.