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Contaminated sands to be removed from Batavia's Siemens-Furnas factory site

More than 11 years after the factory closed, the final vestiges of the Siemens-Furnas factory in Batavia will soon be removed.

Contractors plan to remove contaminated foundry sands, starting in June, according to city administrator Laura Newman.

They will also tear out two parking lots, including a small lot on the north side of McKee Street that is used by people picking up children from H.C. Storm Elementary School.

The foundry sands (black sand and black powder) contain hydrocarbons with levels too high to permit residential construction over them, according to a 2015 study of the site. The sands were used as fill.

Siemens plans to remove the sands and replace them with clean fill and topsoil.

The excavation is expected to take three months.

It will then plant grass, and once that is established, remove the silt and chain-link fences around the main portion of the site.

“They are making some good progress on this property,” Newman told aldermen at a mid-May meeting.

Overall, Siemens owns 18 acres at Van Nortwick Avenue and McKee; the factory buildings were on the 10 acres south of McKee.

The company's large parking lot is on land it leased from an adjacent property owner.

The city had asked Siemens to delay taking out the small parking lot, but the company refused, according to Scott Buening, the city's community development director. The company does not want to continue maintaining the lot nor be liable for its condition, and wants to remove it at the same time as the other lot, he said.

Mayor Jeff Schielke suggested the city should ask the Batavia school district if it is interested in owning the lot.

In 2002, a developer proposed building 53 townhouses on the northern eight acres.

Furnas Electric Co. moved to Batavia in 1940. It was sold to Siemens in 1996. The plant closed in 2006, and the buildings were torn down in 2009. In 2014 foundations were removed.

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Ex-Siemens foundations could come out in January, company tells Batavia

What's next for Siemens land in Batavia?

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