The former site of the Days Inn hotel in New Bern has been identified as a priority for an upcoming environmental assessment of sites considered suitable for commercial development.
Chris Seaberg, community and economic development manager, told the New Bern Board of Aldermen this week that the Days Inn property is among the specific projects that are being looked at to receive funding through a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant the city was awarded through the Environmental Protection Agency.
The grant funds go towards environmental assessments and conceptual planning for commercial property redevelopment and remediation.
The Brownfields money allowed the city to hire a consultant, TRC Engineers, to perform phase 1 of the environmental site assessments, which will include looking at the history of the property for any indication that there might be contamination in the soil, Seaberg explained.
Brownfields sites are defined as properties that have potentially been impacted by hazardous substances and petroleum.
“If there’s a site that there could have been a gas station on where an underground storage tank might have leaked,” Seaberg explained. “There could have been some dry cleaning events that somehow seem to seep into the ground. So the intent is to go in and look at some properties that could be used for redevelopment and make sure you cover all the environmental concerns there and make it more attractive to redevelopment for economic purposes.”
Seaberg said there are concerns about dry cleaning chemicals that were used at the Days Inn site that may have leaked into the soil.
“We’re going to take a good long look at that,” he told the board.
According to Seaberg, commercial property on Main Street in Duffyfield will also be reviewed during the phase 1 assessments. He said phase II work would involve a more in-depth environmental site assessment as well as a plan for potential site response, clean-up and redevelopment actions.
Plans for the Brownfields assessment of the Days Inn property follow the board’s action in February to seek an appraisal for the city-owned lot, which has stood vacant since 2017 when the hotel was demolished.
In 2014, the city sold the building for $184,000 to Kepri Hospitality LLC of Morrisville, in hopes that the hotel would be renovated and reopened. After three years of inactivity, the board of aldermen passed a resolution to have it torn down.
Since that time, the city has discussed a number of options for the property, including having plans drawn up for a potential mixed-use housing complex with retail space.
In February, Alderman Bobby Aster said he was ready to put the property on the market.
“It’s not doing anybody any good sitting there vacant, other than the people that are parking over there,” Aster said.
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.