Bakelite Thermosets -- Belleville, ON
(David P.)
Bakelite Thermosets
A bit of info... [May 14, 2006]
The Bakelite Thermosets Ltd building was erected
in 1947. They mainly manufactured kitchen
appliances, plates, resistors, numerous other
things for use on power lines since Bakelite
does not conduct electricity, and the very
precious bakelite jewelry which go at auctions
at around $8000. Bakelite is no longer manu-
factured in North America. Owned by Union Carbide,
The closure of the plant was a result of the
gas leak in India in the early 1980's. June 18,
1989, Bakelite Belleville closed its doors at the
end of the day, 5 pm. Almost 400 workers without
jobs. After almost 40 years of chemicals such as
Phenolic-Formaldehyde and PCB's leaching into the
ground, Belleville has gotten ever closer to
destroying the chemical laden legacy of the
Bakelite-Thermosets factory. With the closure of
the Bakelite factory, Belleville's economy went
in a steep dive. from 1990 to 1993, the local
economy suffered severely. In 1994, another
division of HALLA climate control opened bringing
more that 500 jobs to the area.
The plant operated for almost 50 years and
produced everything from plastic resins to
formaldehyde when it was shut down in 1990,
leaving a chemical-laden legacy on about 35
hectares of land that documents say contain
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The compounds
can affect reproduction in animals through
exposure over long periods. While more than
500 drums of chemical waste from the plant were
voluntarily removed from the property under
Ministry of Environment supervision, the extent
of contamination from years of manufacturing
products by way of highly corrosive & combustible
compounds is not fully known. Tax records show
the Bakelite property is more than $1 million
in arrears for unpaid property taxes, a figure
that may be forgivable under the new brownfields
legislation. “Over the past 12 years, many
environmental investigations and site remediation
activities have been undertaken, including
decommissioning of a number of former storage
lagoons and the off-site disposal of associated
contaminated soils; removal and off-site disposal
of buried drums of solid and liquid industrial
wastes; removal and off-site disposal of PCB
impacted sludges; and decommissioning of a
concrete settling basin,” the city report stated.
Bakelite was a division of Union Carbide, Union
Bakelite went bankrupt on paper.
City officials were beaming as news of a new
$100 million development was unveiled at the
former Bakelite-Thermosets site in east
Belleville. Mayor George Zegouras handed over
a demolition permit to Mississauga developer
James Sinclair, owner of Demolition & Recycling
Inc. who pledged to remediate the former
industrial site as soon as possible. Zegouras
said city residents, most notably those in the
east end of the city, would be extremely pleased
to hear that the abandoned plant will be put
under the wrecking ball perhaps as soon as
Christmas & the surrounding polluted property
will be remediated. “We have been waiting for a
long time for something to happen at this site,”
said Zegouras. “We know there is contamination
here and there are concerns that have been
expressed.” By cleaning up the site & removing
the crumbling plant, the eastern end of the
city on the bayfront will be radically improved
for generations to come, said Zegouras. Developer
Sinclair confirmed to a large gathering in front
of the former resins and formaldehyde plant on
Dundas Street East that he plans to build a major
residential highrise development, a marina as
well as a massive commercial mall on the
35-hectare property. Estimates peg the cost of
a mall at $40 million, the highrises at $40 mil
and a new marina at $20 million. The intent,
said Sinclair, is to build three highrises
containing a total of 570 permanent condominium
suites that would be serviced by a main-floor
restaurant that would provide room-service.
Sinclair said he wants to build a large mall
as well that would front on to Dundas Street
and contain not only retail stores, but also
a slew of medical and personal services for
seniors living in the highrises to be built
along the Bay of Quinte. As a finishing touch,
Sinclair said he plans to build a major new
boat marina that would be covered to provide
boat owners with a sanctuary from the sun.
To get there, however, Sinclair said the site
will first have to be prepared to play host
to such an ambitious project. With a demolition
permit now in hand, Sinclair will have to get
approvals from agencies such as the Ministry
of Environment and Quinte Conservation to tear
down the aging Bakelite-Thermosets factory —
formerly the Union Carbide plant — that was
closed in 1990. Sinclair said he first started
working on the project four years ago after
city resident Paul Finkle introduced him to
the property and suggested it had strong
development potential. Six weeks ago, Sinclair
said he resumed the project in full stride and
is now moving to demolish the 260,000-sq-ft
Bakelite plant as part of a major clean-up.
“What I originally proposed to the mayor and
council was a retail shopping mall out here
in the form of a Belleville village, with a
theme of an 1890s little town,” said Sinclair.
“I also want to create three buildings of
residential living second to none. Each
building will be 20 storeys high and every
suite will be looking out over the bay,” he
said. Sinclair insisted the development will
happen because it will take a lot of his own
money to begin the project. He said there is
no merit in spending $1.5 million to tear down
the existing plant and dispose of it without
following the project through to the end where
profits lie. In addition, the project will be
a success, he said, because of the right number
of investors who believe in his vision of
developing “one of the most unique pieces of
waterfront anywhere in Canada.” By putting
retail, residential and marine themes together
in one campus, Sinclair said he was creating a
lifestyle that would suit all kinds of people,
especially those who are retiring and are
looking for a different way to live in style.
Coun. George Beer, chairman of the city’s
economic development commission, lauded
Sinclair for the heavy investment. “This
is an historic announcement that everyone
has been waiting for, for a number of years,”
said Beer. “We on council have taken a lot of
flak on what to do about this site over the
years.” Bill Finkle said he was glad to see
his original idea blossom and said it wouldn’t
be possible without the province’s Bill 56,
an act to develop so-called brownfields across
Ontario into usable properties once again. The
brownfields legislation encourages developers
to tackle and clean-up old industrial sites,
especially those on waterfronts, by giving
them tax incentives that can be used toward
environmental remediation of polluted lands.
“Thanks to the brownfields legislation, I
convinced Jim to take this on,” said Finkle.
Prince Edward-Hastings PC candidate John
Williams said he was glad to see the govt’s
legislation was making the Bakelite announce-
ment possible, noting it is good for business,
and the environment. “The key to legislation
like this is that it allows things like this
to go forward. Developers can be winners as
well as the community and the environment,”
said Williams. “It’s nice to see, especially
with a property like this one. It makes sense
to clean up bad areas and make them liveable
again,” Williams said. Liberal incumbent for
the riding Ernie Parsons said “not all govts
do everything wrong. This is good legislation.
This is a bill that I supported in the
legislature. “We have some of the best
waterfront in the province but some of it is
abandoned past industrial property. It’s good
to see that we can now move to get these
properties cleaned up and returned to the
community,” said Parsons. Ministry of
Environment (MOE) district supervisor John
Tooley was also at the announcement and said
he was pleased to see movement being made on
the Bakelite property. “Our main concern for
the last 10 years was to clean up the site
but we haven’t had much success. From what
I’m hearing today, it sounds like there will
be a plan to clean this place up and that
makes us happy,” said Tooley. As much as
$2 million was spent in the early to mid-1990s,
said Tooley, by the now defunct Bakelite
company to clean up the site as best it could
of a range of corrosive and acidic materials
and hundreds of chemical drums were removed
from the property. But, given the plant’s
long history — it has operated since 1948 —
there are serious gaps from decades ago of
the industrial activity at the site and what
still remains underground. Not until the
mid-1970s under a new Environmental Protection
Act in Ontario, were plants forced to abide by
strict guidelines regarding chemical use in
the manufacturing sector. “With the plant
being so old,” said Tooley, “we don’t know
what went on and we don’t what they did
between 1948 and 1975. We have no records.”
Tooley said the new developers will have to
provide the MOE with a list of what chemicals
they know are on site and buried within a
known chemical landfill site still remaining
at the Bakelite property. With that list in
hand, the environment ministry can help
Sinclair best develop a clean-up plan to
remediate the property enough to meet
residential needs. Tooley said Sinclair will
also have to provide a report on plans for
demolition because of the “asbestos still
inside the plant. We have to be assured that
the workers involved in the demolition will
not be exposed to asbestos during the tearing
down of the old plant.” Sinclair, meanwhile,
said once the building is taken down, clean
up preparations will get underway.
Who wants to live there? To totally remove
all of the contaminated soil, Sinclair would
have to dig down 1 mile to the clean soil.
In October, Sinclair took to the front wall
of the office complex closest to Dundas with
a front-end loader. Knowing very well that
there is Asbestos in the factory, he took no
precautions and tore down the lower half of
the front wall before the police showed up.
On Saturday, February 28 2004, Arsonists
took to one of the prime UE spots in
Belleville with a vengance. Lighting half
of the front offices on fire. It was quickly
contained and extinguished.
[Photo gallery]
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