Converting a brownfield into an environmentally friendly parking lot while also beautifying the downtown Chatham entryway.
That's the desired outcome of a project that's nearing the completion of the largest phase of the project.
Don Pearson is general manager of the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA). He says the vacant lot next to the Thames Street office used to be home to a gas station that left contaminants in the soil.
That soil has since been prepped with asphalt being laid this week, as well as the addition of three storm water detention ponds.
"That's to basically deal with the run off from the site which previously went into a storm sewer and now will go into these designed detention areas and then released slowly, actually just down stream of our property, and won't impact the municipal sewage system," says Pearson.
Pearson says the initiative not only improves the aesthetics of the location as you enter downtown Chatham but it also nearly double their parking from 15 to 27 spaces.
The project was announced in early June, and following an environmental assessment construction started November 24.
