Dell Saline

Dell Deaton. Seriously.

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Photo: Universal Die Casting company (of Saline Michigan) booth at 1984 Automotive News World Expo show, Cobo Center, Detroit.

Photographed by Dell Deaton, D2 Enterprises.

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Aerial photograph of Saline die cast parts manufacturing site circa 1985.

The Saline River can be seen peeking out from an opening in trees to the south-southwest of Universal Die Casting water tower. Employee parking was across from the factory at 232 Monroe Street. And the Curtiss Park baseball diamond can be seen behind the building scrap yard and cold warehouse.

Photographed by Dell Deaton, D2 Enterprises from fixed-wing aircraft in October of 1985. One of several such assignments during which this location was covered.

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Fence work along 232 Monroe Street by Dell Deaton  

via Flickr: 

Photograph taken yesterday, Saline, Michigan. 

© 2015 Janet & Dell Deaton, All Rights Reserved. USA

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Cleanup crews contracted by Johnson Controls were said to have wrapped-up their work, proper, on the former Saline die cast factory site a couple of months ago.

Today, a new group of workers were on the property at 232 Monroe Street in Michigan. They appear to have taken down the street-facing fence that’s been in place for years; they are also constructing a new fence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOtO4-htwT8

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Former Hoover Universal Die Cast Division property by Dell Deaton Via Flickr: As viewed toward east, southeast from Curtiss Park, Saline Michigan. © 2015 Janet & Dell Deaton, All Rights Reserved. USA

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Site of former Saline die cast factory by Dell Deaton Via Flickr: As of Wednesday, October 21, 2015: Johnson Controls brownfield cleanup site at 232 Monroe Street, Saline, Michigan (Washtenaw County). © 2015 Dell Deaton, All Rights Reserved. USA

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"This site is designated a high priority for EPA under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)."

re Johnson Controls cleanup of its former die cast factory property at 232 Monroe Street in Saline, Michigan (Washtenaw County).

That’s what I see as the takeaway line in a letter I received today from the State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, in response to an inquiry I made to DEQ Director Dan Wyant in August.

Two additional points that strike me as noteworthy:

Corrective action at the site is still being governed by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order dating back to 2003. That means a plan based on circumstances now a dozen years old.

No reference to Saline River Properties or the building foundation break-up. How often (and emphatically!) have we heard that cited as the be-all, end-all reasoning for the property having been neglected to seriously deteriorate over the course of many years?

This DEQ letter wasn’t from Director Wyant, of course. I wouldn’t have expected it to have been. But I admit to having been a bit surprised to see that the Johnson Controls work at 232 Monroe Street falls under the DEQ “Hazardous Waste Section,” as this letter indicates.

I’ll continue to report on this story in terms of what’s best for the City of Saline, regardless of how the surface appeal of the property may appear to improve.

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My third Michigan Avenue traffic benchmarking video, recorded in front of Benny’s Bakery between 4:50am and 8:10am on Friday, September 25, 2015 (time lapse).

via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-8WxKFlbUQ

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Time lapse video: Four-corners downtown Saline, Michigan during “golden hour,” Sept 23 2015. Focus on traffic flow patterns, noting vehicle types.

via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAb6GWxLmc8

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Video: Preparing for Michigan Avenue “reconstruction,” view of Hall Street intersection with US-12, one block east of four corners at center of downtown Saline, Michigan.

Plans I’ve seen released by MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) indicate that a pedestrian island, or something elsewhere characterized as a traffic “calming” build-up is to be placed at what is the center of the framing for the video above.

Not sure how that works with typical traffic flow, which can be seen by this time lapse video shot between 11:30am and 12:30pm today.

via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR2KjmyjiEI

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Video 9/19/2015: Status of Saline former die cast factory site cleanup work by Johnson Controls. Significant progress appears to have been made on “surface.”

via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gnn_c2X_ZM

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Manufacturing chemical discharge “ponds” outside Johnson Controls (JCI) die casting parts production factory, circa 1982.

Operated under the Hoover Universal monikker before JCI acquisition, this facility produced zinc-metal die cast parts for approximately 40 years (until 1988) at 232 Monroe Street, Saline, Michigan. Parts were plated in nickel and chrome solutions, some residuals of which can be seen in the large, grayish-blue colored ponds visible in the middle-left of the photograph above.

This photograph was taken from the roof of the Saline Die Casting Division building, facing southwest. The Saline River can be seen here along the south border of the Johnson Controls site property; Curtiss Park is beyond the fence to the west (upper-right in framing above).

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Street-level truck dock area at Hoover Universal die casting factory in Saline, Michigan, circa 1982.

This view looks west, down onto the fenced, paved area just south of the boiler room. Photograph taken before first specialized excavation crews were brought in by Johnson Controls to remove surface covering, surrounding soil, and large fuel-oil tanks buried beneath; serious environmental contamination was believed to have been happening as a result of leaking.

As I’ve noted here in previous postings, I was personally on-site when a number of those removal operations took place in the 1980s. I have commented upon what I recall as having been far more elaborate processes that took place then, as opposed to what appears to be taking place in this exact same area with current (August 2015 and after) “cleanup” work today.

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Die casting machine bays, factory at 232 Monroe Street in Saline, Michigan, circa 1982.

Photograph taken just off of Monroe Street, at what at the time was the northeast corner of the building; facing west, southwest.

Recent photos of the 2015 site cleanup by Johnson Controls can be referenced to the image above by two remaining cement pillars, painted yellow. Those pillars (not shown in this framing) once bounded the top of the ramp shown here, lower right.

Remnants of the steel structure also shown in this photograph can be seen in site cleanup images that I posted here earlier this week.

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Perspective on just how close current die cast factory cleanup site is to Curtiss Park in City of Saline, Michigan.

Photo believed to have been taken in 1982, when “Saline Die Casting Division” was owned by Hoover Universal. Pallets, chemical barrels, and scrap metal castings are visible on the lot itself.

The southmost baseball diamond in Curtiss Park can be seen just across the fence which bounds the west property line of the 232 Monroe Street die cast factory in Saline, Michigan.

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Standing water remained 2 days after light rain fell on 232 Monroe Street brownfield site. 

This is obviously a concern, given past Environmental Protection Agency involvement in assessing this former die casting parts production facility in Saline, Michigan, and findings of contamination. Additionally, Johnson Controls itself has argued (e.g., to E.P.A. and in U.S. District Court) that removal of the former concrete foundation slab from the factory compromised what it characterized as a necessary “engineered barrier” to contamination.

Photo taken Sunday, September 13, 2015, between 5:30pm and 6:00pm.

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Several sections of Johnson Controls die cast factory cleanup site are conspicuously flagged-off at this phase of property remediation. Photo taken Sunday, September 13, 2015, facing southwest, from northeast corner of lot (off Monroe Street, Saline, Michigan).