Dubuque County Conservation Board Plan Former Flexsteel Site


On July 15, 2021, the DCCB approved a letter of intent to accept a donation of approximately 16.1 acres from the 30.24-acre site of Flexsteel Industries’ former manufacturing facility. The site is located at 3400 Jackson Street in the Couler Valley on the North End of Dubuque. 

Originally constructed in 1911 for use by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, producer of phonograph players, this site functioned for decades as a manufacturing facility for a variety of companies -- the last being Flexsteel Industries. The site was cleared in 2019-2020 of two major structures comprising 1,317,037 square feet in area. Concrete parking lots, loading docks, and building foundations remain on the site. The site is zoned LI Light Industrial District. 

The site adjoins a paved section of the Dubuque County Heritage Trail on the east. The west side is bordered by residential, commercial, industrial and vacant properties. The north side abuts vacant and commercial properties. Commercial and industrial uses lie to the south.

The property is an unused portion of a larger brownfield site owned by Flexsteel Industries adjacent to the Dubuque County Heritage Trail that includes wetland. Flexsteel is planning to donate the subject property to the Dubuque County Conservation Board. DCCB intends to use the subject property as a recreational trail and as wetlands. The nature trail will be realigned at the Peru Road crossing. As part of this project, the wetland site could be enjoyed by users of the trail system for nature watching with education placards on the importance of wetland habitat.

The Flexsteel donation also includes a 0.3-acre parcel along the Heritage Trail’s connection at West 32nd Street/ Peru Road. Alignment of the Dubuque County and City of Dubuque Heritage Trail systems at West 32nd Street/Peru Road to improve the safety of the street crossing for bicyclists and pedestrians is proposed. A small parking lot along West 32nd Street to serve trail users also is proposed.

A Phase I ESA has been performed on the subject property as a part of the current EPA Brownfields Hazardous Materials Grant by Blackstone dated September 27, 2021. Recognized environmental conditions (RECs) were not identified on site. Off-site RECs were identified and included: the former presence of railroad tracks, the presence of arsenic, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in groundwater above the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Statewide Standards (SWS) on the adjacent Flexsteel property, the requirement by the IDNR for further investigation at the former Flexsteel facility (including the Site), and the former presence of a manufacturing facility and railroad tracks in the subject property vicinity. The presence of a groundwater ordinance in use at the Flexsteel facility (including the Site) was considered a Controlled REC.

Several investigations have been conducted on the former Flexsteel Facility, located adjacent south of the subject property, as described in the Site Assessment Report (SAR) by Blackstone dated December 15, 2020. Three soil borings were advanced in close proximity to the subject property in 2017 and 2019. Soil and groundwater samples were collected from the borings that were analyzed for total extractable hydrocarbons (TEH), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Concentrations of TEH, VOCs, SVOCs, and metals were detected in the soil samples at concentrations below the Iowa Statewide Standards1 (SWS). PCBs were not detected in the samples. The analytical results from the groundwater samples indicated concentrations of the VOC benzene, SVOCs (benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd] pyrene); and metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead) at concentrations above the SWS for a protected and non-protected groundwater source. Other constituents were either not detected or detected at concentrations below their respective SWS. Proposed future sampling will assess if soils along the realignment have been impacted from the former Flexsteel facility operations. Soil and groundwater will be handled during excavation according to an appropriate Soil and Groundwater Management Plan so that location of sampled soils may be tracked for possible disposal pending sample results and impacted groundwater can be disposed.

Final 3.0 ECIA Flexsteel DCCB Plan

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