Among the ideas proposed once the site is completely cleaned up was a relocation and expansion of the veterans memorial park currently on-site and a public bike path winding through the 171-acre residential subdivision.

The subdivision, located northwest of Klamath Falls, has latent asbestos buried beneath the soil that came from past construction at the site.

While most of the residents of the site moved away through funds allocated from a lawsuit against the land developer, the few that remain are being temporarily relocated while work is conducted to clean individual properties.

The three-phase project has entered Phase II in its second year of steady clean-up efforts, this year moving three times the amount of material as was removed last year.

Two repositories on-site will store all asbestos-contaminated materials, which will be capped and monitored once the clean-up is complete.

Linda Meyer, North Ridge Estates project manager for the EPA, led a presentation at Thursday’s meeting highlighting the work completed to date.

According to Meyer, eight properties were completely cleaned last year during phase I while excavating 40,500 cubic yards of asbestos materials. Those materials were then temporarily capped for the winter, while the majority of trees were removed as well due to asbestos contamination in their roots. Around 100 trees were saved, and upon completion of clean-up additional trees will be planted.

Meyer highlighted lessons learned from year one that are being implemented, including a better understanding of water use to reduce dust in an effort to avoid asbestos becoming airborne. Extensive water use in areas where work was being conducted caused excessive erosion, leading to drainage issues. As a result, added to this year’s plans is the construction of a new culvert on Old Fort Road.

Judy Smith of the EPA also detailed a job training initiative through the Superfund clean-up that has proven successful, recently graduating 16 workers now employed on the clean-up project. Part of a federal program that seeks out work opportunities targeting local unemployed and underemployed individuals, those who complete the training are certified in valuable job skills such as hazardous materials, flagging and forklift operations.

According to Smith, thanks in part to the job training initiative 39 of the current 42 employees on-site live locally around Klamath Falls. That workforce is expected to climb to 50 soon as operations ramp up, while approximately 30 local subcontractors are also heavily involved in the clean-up.

The majority of feedback received at the meeting related to a proposal for a bike path and walkway through the subdivision and relocated park. Although, safety, fencing and preventing people from accessing the asbestos repositories were primary concerns, casting doubt on whether a public path was in the best interests of residents.

Additional suggestions included shoulder expansion of roads, particularly Old Fort Road, as the site is popular for cyclists yet leaves little separation space between vehicles and bicycle traffic.

The cleanup is expected to complete in 2018 at a cost of roughly $30 million, at which point properties will be made available for purchase. The current Phase II clean-up is expected to continue into October.

A neighborhood social and construction site tour is being planned for July 18.