White Park - Voluntary Remediation Program
This page serves as a hub for information related to the City of Morgantown's brownfield planning and remediation efforts for White Park. Below you will find useful information on the history of White Park and the City's plans for investing in the future of the park.
White Park History
White Park serves as one of the City of Morgantown’s most important community assets. The 170-acre property is nestled in First Ward and used by residents from all of Morgantown and the surrounding areas. The five ballfields host dozens of little league and adult recreational softball teams throughout the year, and the basketball courts and ice rink provide opportunities for both general use and organized sports. Picnic areas provide casual respite and rentable pavilion host countless formal and informal events.
White Park's Industrial Legacy
The land that now contains White Park was previously used as part of historically significant oil industry operations. At the turn of the 20th century, what was then known as the South Morgantown Tank Farm was rapidly expanded to support the production coming from these fields. The Eureka Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil, operated the farm between its creation in 1890 and its eventual retirement in the 1940’s and 1950’s. At its height, the farm likely stored more than two million barrels of oil in nearly 80 tanks. It stretched from Dorsey Avenue up to the back of the Morgantown Mall and covered around 700 acres. At the end of its operational life, a few of the tanks in the farm were used by the Morgantown Ordnance Works in its support of World War II.
This history has given White Park several things. The first is its name – an homage to I.C. White, whose 1927 obituary in the Morgantown Post tells us he was known as Morgantown’s “foremost citizen” while he was alive. The second is its unique geography. To help protect the environment, the tanks were surrounded by primary and secondary containment berms that largely remain intact today. These berms simultaneously form useful features for mountain biking and also have created diverse habitat for wetland plants and animals. The third thing this history has given White Park is its status as a brownfield.
White Park's Trail System
White Park also houses Morgantown’s oldest and most extensive urban, off-road trail system. The nearly 17 miles of existing trails in White Park are used more heavily than any other BOPARC-managed trails, likely due to their proximity to residential areas and two centers of education. Although not all existing trails are formally sanctioned and maintained by BOPARC crews and volunteers, the entire trail system serves several important functions. Around 5 miles of learning loops and gravel trails provide direct neighborhood access to park amenities and serve as low-stress transportation corridors between neighborhoods.
Originally signed in the early 2010’s, the 3.4-mile Blue Diamond Race Loop is the pillar of local mountain biking within city limits. The 10-mile soft-surface trail system also provides a few areas for off-road biking “skill progression” where jumps, berms, and other bike features have been built and maintained by volunteers under agreement with BOPARC. This same system serves cross-country teams, the South Middle Bicycle Club, hikers, birders, and several other trail user groups.
Although beloved and heavily used, the White Park trail system has largely been developed from social and wildlife trails over the past century. Common to many east-coast parks, this type of informal development results in convoluted urban trail systems. A recent trail survey in White Park found more than 250 trail-to-trail intersections and dozens of trail-to-road intersections. The dense trail network and excessive number of intersections, combined with poor sightlines, narrow trail corridors, little signage, and minimal trail improvements, make for difficult navigation.
Recent complaints of unsanctioned trail construction and documented friction between different user groups have prompted BOPARC and the City to begin planning investments to better meet the needs of the community. Upgrades to other park amenities are also either planned or, in the case of the ice rink expansion and the new Southside Trail, have already been funded and are in the final stages of design. The City and BOPARC are excited to announce plans to expand recreational services at this important park.
Plans for White Park
Programs that help communities address brownfields have evolved significantly over time. As the community has requested expansion and upgrade of our recreational amenities in White Park, the City intends to take the lead on all future assessment and cleanup activities. The WVDEP’s Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) and recently expanded federal and state grant dollars will provide the framework and funding for the City to proactively lead this effort in a public and expedited fashion. Although no state or federal regulatory agencies have indicated current, direct health hazards, White Park’s history warrants an assessment that will provide a comprehensive understanding of the landscape.
The reuse strategy for White Park is rooted in the community organization following MUB’s 2016 announcement of the proposed water line route through the previously undeveloped WPS. In a series of publicly recorded meetings and work sessions, numerous at-large community members and organizations (including current project partners such as: the White Park Trail Advisory Group, First Ward Neighborhood Association, Morgantown Greenspace Coalition, South Middle School Bike Club, and Morgantown Trail Hawks) joined with City leadership represented by City Council, the Board of Parks and Recreation, and MUB. These events continued through the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic and included live-stream, re-broadcasted events and several outdoor site tours facilitated by the WVU’s Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative (WVU-OEDC). Collectively, these groups organized to prioritize restoration and redevelopment strategies for the WPS, recognizing an opportunity to implement a new management approach for maximizing use of limited greenspace and correcting legacy issues caused by White Park’s soil contamination and network of unsanctioned and loosely managed trails. In 2020, the City, with continued support from WVU’s-OEDC, engaged a Professional Trail Builders Association contractor to incorporate the expressed community need into a trail design for the WPS. These events fell within the backdrop of a growing community demand for recreation and alternate transportation routes that had spurred significant planning efforts focusing on development and expansion of the City’s existing trail network
The City of Morgantown entered White Park into the WVDEP’s VRP Program in October of 2022. Site assessment sufficient to begin cleanup activities has been completed. Our assessment activities in the VRP were guided by our collective desired public uses for the park. In the summer of 2022, the City began a master trail design process for the entire park to better meet park user needs and desires, conserve the natural landscape, protect sensitive habitats, and highlight the rich industrial, ecological, and social history of the area through interpretive signage.
On September 19, 2023, the City of Morgantown was awarded a $500,000 EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant to fund a five year period from 07/01/2023-09/30/2027 for site cleanup and trail development for the 21 acre Southside portion of White Park. Through our recent work preparing to build the Southside Trail, we have come to understand that trail construction itself can be a primary cleanup technique. Cleanup and reuse strategy for the Southside site centers on strategic development of a 1.9-mile trail loop, intentionally designed with a cover to mitigate risk to users. The sanctioning of a formal trail in this section of the park will discourage unsanctioned trail development and soil excavations, which cause undue ecological damage and unacceptable exposure to Arsenic and PAHs in soil. It will also direct users – with signage, native vegetation that form thick barriers, and limited fencing – to mitigated areas of the park.
Construction of the White Park Southside Trail will serve as the City’s first phase in this regional and multi-agency redevelopment effort. The cleanup will showcase an innovative and technically sound approach as a blueprint for future successes in the rest of White Park and in other blighted areas.
This summer, we will begin a master trail design process for the entire park to better meet park user needs and desires, conserve the natural landscape, protect sensitive habitats, and highlight the rich industrial, ecological, and social history of the area through interpretive signage. Through our recent work preparing to build the Southside Trail, we have come to understand that trail construction itself can be a primary cleanup technique.
Benefits of the Master Trail Plan
The master trail design will help us formalize and build a trail system that accommodates all users while also preserving the ecosystem to support the environmental benefits of a forested landscape. The trail will be designed and constructed with proper oversight so that human health and the environment will be protected. There will be educational signs along the trail that will include historical and ecological information.
Administrative Record
The City of Morgantown is the successful recipient of a US EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant for the Southside area of White Park. To facilitate community education and meet the obligations of the grant, the City has established this Administrative Record. The Administrative Record is a library of documents used to guide our decision making. Documents in this library include:
- EPA approved Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA). The ABCA documents the factors influencing the selection of our preferred cleanup method, including effectiveness, implementability, costs, and sustainability. The City has selected soil cover integrated into planned trail design as the preferred cleanup method. This work will be conducted under West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) oversight via the state Voluntary Remediation Program.
- WV DEP Voluntary Remediation Agreement between the City and the WVDEP.
- WVDEP approved Site investigation reports (results from the testing of soil and water):
- WVDEP approved Risk Assessment Report (evaluate the risk to users of the park using the data collected and identify any risks that should be addressed).
The cleanup plan is currently under development and once approved by the WVDEP, will be posted here.
If you have any questions or comments pertaining to any of these documents, please contact jgatlin@morgantownwv.gov.
- What is a Brownfield?
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Brownfields are parcels of land with any history of previous use that hinders their current or future development. Any real – or, importantly, any perceived – contamination from previous uses might affect how we can responsibly use lands. The operation of an oil tank farm, despite the visible steps taken to limit the effects of any spill, has undoubtedly long affected the perception of White Park.
In the late 1980’s, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) formally recognized White Park as a brownfield after receiving citizen complaints at a few previous tank sites within White Park. Since then, in their assessment and associated cleanups of periodic complaints at specific tank sites, the WVDEP and the USEPA have worked directly with oil companies responsible for the previous use. This process has been piecemeal and reactionary in nature, limited to areas that were identified by complaints and with nearly no involvement of the City or BOPARC.
- What is the Voluntary Remediation Program?
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The WVDEP created the VRP in 1996 to encourage redevelopment of existing sites rather than development of pristine land. Going through the VRP will enable the city to do a complete assessment of White Park, clean up any identified contamination or areas of concern, and develop plans that will guide all future activity on the site. Completion of the program will ensure any clean up of White Park follows the latest state and federal health and environmental regulations, with activities led by Licensed Remediation Specialists overseen by the WVDEP.
You can learn more about the program on the WVDEP’s website.
- Why is the City now taking the lead on cleanup efforts?
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While Pennzoil/Quaker State, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, remains the chief responsible party due to its acquisition of the Eureka Pipeline Company and its liabilities, the City of Morgantown recognizes its role as the landowner. With updated regulations, new frameworks to conduct assessments and cleanups, increases in funding on the horizon, and a mandate from citizen requests to invest in White Park, we want to ensure this historical issue is dealt with in a comprehensive, cooperative, and timely manner. Entering the VRP now, as the primary applicant, will allow us to direct what happens to this immensely important recreational asset. Keeping decision-making power local will ensure that White Park’s future is based on our communal vision.
Discussions between Shell and the City of Morgantown are ongoing. Shell will be held accountable for any cleanup required at White Park that is associated with their inherited liabilities.
- What is the cost?
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The cost is still being determined, but the initial assessment is expected to be funded through a combination of grants and $50,000 of City funds that have already been allocated to the project.
- What about the reservoir?
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The drinking water reservoir in White Park was constructed in 1958 and has provided a portion of our source water ever since. Municipal drinking water is heavily processed and is monitored extensively for its potential to impact human health. The Morgantown Utility Board has decades of testing showing that the quality of the water sourced from the reservoir is some of the cleanest in the state. Testing of the reservoir has not indicated any contamination from the oil tanks. Unless future testing indicates potential contamination there are no immediate plans by the City to include the reservoir in the VRP process.
- Are there any hazards to people currently using the park?
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Over the past few decades, federal and state regulatory agencies have tested portions of the site for various contaminants of concern. Although these investigations did require certain, limited cleanup activities, nothing has been found that has prompted immediate enforcement action and modification of current uses.
It is important to note that previous assessments were judged against risk levels set for residential use. Since the most recent cleanup in 2010, new regulations have set recreational risk levels that account for the differences between these land uses and their associated risks. In short, there is nothing that has led us or any regulators to believe that excessive hazards currently exist.
- What is the timeline?
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The City has entered the WV DEP’s VRP program as of October of 2022. The VRP process will run concurrently with the 2023 awarded EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant for the Southside portion of White Park. This five year period will run from 07/01/2023-09/30/2027 and include site cleanup, remediation and trail development.
- What about the rest of the old tank farm?
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The City is being proactive with property that is within the jurisdiction of the City.
- Should I be concerned that my house or property is within the boundary of the old tank farm?
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The City of Morgantown will coordinate with WVDEP to hold workshops that will assist property owners in determining what steps they can take to determine potential contamination on their property. Once those workshops are scheduled they will be posted on this website and shared to those interested. You can sign-up to receive notifications for events and more from the city on our notify me page here.