Projects

Northgate provides on-call support to the Port of Oakland for a wide variety of recommendations pertaining to compliance with federal, state, and local federal hazardous materials regulations. Northgate’s services have included a wide range of activities from environmental planning through site closure, and often require a high degree of fast-paced flexibility and responsiveness. Services include environmental planning and workplan preparation; site investigations including soil, groundwater, surface water, landfill gas, and air sampling; waste characterization; tidal studies; geotechnical engineering studies; feasibility evaluations; UST removal; demolition and asbestos abatement oversight; compliance monitoring; site closure; and development of Soil Management and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plans. Notably, Northgate is evaluating remedial effectiveness in consideration of a changing regulatory environment and performing post-remediation monitoring activities at the Embarcadero Cove Superfund Site project, located adjacent to the Oakland Inner Harbor.

Under multiple as-needed contracts, Northgate provides environmental site assessment (ESA) and remediation services to Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. Serving SCE’s territory, from San Diego to Fresno, Northgate offers diverse environmental services, including waste characterization sampling for new construction, Phase I and II ESAs for property transactions and due diligence, retention basin closures, Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFIs), groundwater monitoring, human health risk assessments, and remedial plan development and implementation. Senior project managers collaborate with SCE representatives and regulators to advance investigations, select and implement remedies, and secure environmental case closures. Since 2016, SCE has recognized Northgate as the “gold standard” for on-call environmental consulting.

Northgate manages portfolio liability for one of the nation’s largest publicly traded real estate investment trusts. They perform various environmental services, from site assessments to designing and implementing remedial actions for multi-tenant shopping centers and mixed-use properties.

In Cupertino, CA, Northgate evaluated a former drycleaner site with off-site contamination. They shifted the focus from iterative investigations to risk evaluation, remediation, and streamlined closure.

Similarly, in Bellflower, CA, Northgate evaluated a former drycleaner tenant space. They conducted soil and soil vapor sampling, removed dry cleaning equipment, demolished the concrete slab, and transported debris and contaminated soil. They also designed, tested, and implemented soil vapor extraction at the site.

Northgate’s strategic investigation and design services, along with open communication, provide optimal results. They reduce health risks, maintain regulatory compliance, and increase land use opportunities for their clients.

Northgate provides environmental due diligence and management services to the largest developer in the Washington DC area, both in-house and on-call. Northgate advises senior management on environmental conditions and risks for their entire property portfolio and for properties under evaluation. Services include defining work scopes, performing environmental audits, assessments, and remediation projects for acquisitions, dispositions, financing, leases, and current properties. Northgate also reviews and analyzes environmental data and reports, monitors environmental services performed by others, and provides emergency response for issues like abandoned USTs, spills, and asbestos. Additionally, Northgate offers consulting for construction and redevelopment projects, insurance and litigation support, and in-house environmental training for staff.

For over 10 years, Northgate has provided a range of environmental services to the Midpeninsula Open Space District including Phase I ESAs and Phase II Investigations in support of property acquisitions, as well as risk assessment, remediation planning and regulatory negotiations. Historical uses of many of the District’s properties included agricultural, mining, rural farming, mineral resources and military facilities. On a number of these properties, Northgate identified and quantified residual environmental liabilities and assisted in resolving the issues in a manner compatible with future use of open space preservation. A specific project example includes Northgate managing Phase I ESAs and Phase II Soil and Groundwater Investigations, as well as asbestos and lead paint investigations at the Former Almaden Air Force Station at Mt. Umunhum, Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve.

Northgate conducted Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP) environmental site assessments and subsurface investigations for the anchor tenant at three shopping centers in Maryland and Virginia. Each site was a multi-tenant commercial center with numerous buildings. Each Phase I ESA identified several recognized environmental conditions (RECs) from historical operations like dry cleaning, printing, medical offices, restaurants, automotive services, and gas stations. Offsite releases had further impacted soil, soil vapor, and groundwater at all properties. To qualify for the VCP program, Northgate conducted indoor air and soil vapor studies to evaluate vapor intrusion risks. They installed a sub-slab depressurization system at one shopping center in Maryland. The investigations met the standards of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ).

Northgate performed environmental site assessment and investigation services for a large developer to evaluate 3,200 acres of land for potential redevelopment in unincorporated Orange and Los Angeles Counties that historically operated as an active oil field with active oil production operations since the 1880s. The property contained multiple active and inactive or closed oil wells, roadways, and associated surface equipment and buildings.  The remainder of the property not utilized for oil production had been occupied by nursery operations, beekeeping activities, and livestock grazing. Northgate conducted an initial environmental site assessment to evaluate the historic operations of the property and identify any potential environmental concerns. Concurrent with this assessment, Northgate also conducted investigation scoping efforts for each identified environmental concern to streamline the evaluation and minimize costs. Based on responsiveness to the client, product deliverables, and overall approach, Northgate continues to conduct environmental assessment projects for this client.

In coordination with Maryland Environmental Service and the Maryland Department of the Environment, Northgate is characterizing 90 years of accumulated sediment behind the Conowingo Dam and developing solutions for cost-effective remedies to reduce sediment and nutrient flux to the upper Chesapeake Bay. Tasks include performing a data gap analysis; sediment characterization; nutrient and sediment flux modeling; dredging and sediment reuse bench-scale demonstration; and an economic and societal cost-benefit analysis.

We developed the investigation and remediation approach to align with the client’s plans for a 250,000-square-foot cold storage facility at a 12-acre site in the Port of Long Beach. This site had served as a wood treatment facility for over 70 years. We coordinated successfully with the owner, developer, and DTSC regulators to ensure compliance with regulations, expediting approval processes and remediation alongside redevelopment. We leveraged relationships with regulatory agencies to secure a favorable remedy, including monitored natural attenuation of groundwater and a multi-component RCRA-equivalent cap for soil. By allowing RCRA-permitted drip pads to remain, we saved significant removal and disposal costs. We also integrated building design features into the vapor mitigation system, saving costs and materials. The site design included railroad spurs and asphalt for heavy traffic flow. The owner, developer, and DTSC recognized the strategic planning and successes.

Northgate performed 85 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) under a multi-year environmental service contract. These assessments supported the District’s Coyote Creek Flood Protection Project. We designed engineered solutions to protect local communities along a 10-mile stretch of Coyote Creek in San Jose, which experienced massive flooding. Northgate conducted ESAs for properties affected by potential engineering solutions, including flood wall construction, channel widening, property elevation changes, property acquisition for flood detention, and other solutions. The properties included residential parcels, city parks, schools, commercial business parks, large industrial properties, and closed landfill areas.

Through a public-private partnership with the City of Oakland, the Montezuma team established a 20 million cubic yard upland disposal site, providing an efficient, sustainable, and environmentally acceptable alternative to in-bay and ocean sediment disposal to address a 50-foot marine channel deepening project. The project is simultaneously restoring over 1,800 acres of tidal wetlands. Northgate worked on initial conceptual planning stages through investigation and design phases and construction, including geotechnical design and monitoring for levees construction on approximately 300 acres of dredge settling ponds for future tidal marsh restoration, as well as sediment quality evaluations, site operations, and project monitoring. To date, the site has received 6 million cubic yards of dredged sediment from local and federal dredging contracts for restoration. Through a public-private partnership with the City of Oakland, the Montezuma team established a 20 million cubic yard upland disposal site, providing an efficient, sustainable, and environmentally acceptable alternative to in-bay and ocean sediment disposal to address a 50-foot marine channel deepening project. The project is simultaneously restoring over 1,800 acres of tidal wetlands. Northgate worked on initial conceptual planning stages through investigation and design phases and construction, including geotechnical design and monitoring for levees construction on approximately 300 acres of dredge settling ponds for future tidal marsh restoration, as well as sediment quality evaluations, site operations, and project monitoring. To date, the site has received 6 million cubic yards of dredged sediment from local and federal dredging contracts for restoration.

Through a public-private partnership with the City of Oakland, the Montezuma team established a 20 million cubic yard upland disposal site, providing an efficient, sustainable, and environmentally acceptable alternative to in-bay and ocean sediment disposal to address a 50-foot marine channel deepening project. The project is simultaneously restoring over 1,800 acres of tidal wetlands. Northgate worked on initial conceptual planning stages through investigation and design phases and construction, including geotechnical design and monitoring for levees construction on approximately 300 acres of dredge settling ponds for future tidal marsh restoration, as well as sediment quality evaluations, site operations, and project monitoring. To date, the site has received 6 million cubic yards of dredged sediment from local and federal dredging contracts for restoration.