The Lowry Redevelopment Authority has taken over full control of the cleanup from the military at the former Lowry Air Force Base – a step that could speed construction of homes, parks and a golf course.
Lowry officials said Thursday that agreements have been completed to transfer responsibility for the remaining $30 million cleanup job from the Air Force to the redevelopment authority.
The Air Force will continue to pay for the cleanup and remain legally liable for pollution at the site.
The remediation work includes removing lead from the soil at a former firing range and cleaning up a training zone where the military fire department once practiced.
“What this means is the job will get done in a timely manner, which is what we’ve been pushing for all this time,” said Hilarie Portell, an authority spokeswoman.
Lowry’s cleanup and redevelopment kicked off after the base was closed in 1994. Parts of the 1,866-acre site were contaminated with industrial solvents used by the military and asbestos from old buildings.
In 2002, the Air Force privatized much of the cleanup work on the site, turning management over to the authority, a nonprofit organization established by Aurora and Denver to oversee the redevelopment.
Under that agreement, the authority supervised the groundwater and landfill cleanup.
The Air Force focused on cleaning up the fire-training zone and firing range, and maintained legal liability for the site.
The agreement was the first of its kind for the Air Force, which frequently holds up Lowry as a model for redevelopment.
Since then, however, the cleanup has stalled several times because of disputes between the military and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Last April, state environmental regulators stopped work at the site after the Air Force balked at paying cleanup bills.
Brent Anderson, president of Lowry Assumption LLC, which manages the cleanup for the authority, said now that the rest of the effort has been privatized, work should begin this spring at the fire-training zone and wrap up by the end of the year.
There also are plans to improve the Mira Vista golf course and possibly build a youth course.
And there are plans to construct a park in Lowry’s tow center.
“My expectation is that we will be able to move faster than anyone anticipated,” Anderson said.
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
