Every city which has been around for awhile such as Calgary has seen various stages of industrial development throughout its history. Unfortunately, environmental issues and knowledge about the effects of the contaminants used back in those days weren’t all that well known.
For any purchaser of Calgary real estate, these issues can come back to haunt if you don’t know what existed previously on the land or property you are about to buy for your commercial enterprise.
Here are some things you should know before you invest heavily into your enterprise.
What Constitutes a Contaminated Site?
A contaminated site means any land which contains sufficient pollutants that has the potential to cause a hazard to either people or the environment. This usually occurs in commercially used land areas where previous practices may been unsafe and where various types of hazardous materials were previously employed, stored or manufactured.
In almost 60% of instances involving residual pollutants the biggest culprit came from those commercial sites which used PHC (Petroleum Hydrocarbon). Other pollutants often occur from animal waste, nitrogen and potassium phosphate. Additionally, other polluting culprits involved included materials such as metals including lead, mercury, zinc, iron, sulphur, radon gas lead and cadmium along with organic toxins such as pesticides and PCBs.
Problems Caused By Environmental Pollutants
A variety of both health and environmental problems can stem from these previously used pollutants as they can find their way into both the groundwater or soil, and can even be dangerous in that they can cause a fire or something more drastic such as an explosion. They can also cause smells which are noxious and be harmful to human health.
How to Research Your Calgary Commercial Property
The best approach so that you don’t get caught with a big clean up bill which could end making your commercial enterprise untenable is to perform an environment assessment of the property.
You also want to especially watch out for any previous industrial activity which may have involved the following commercial applications:
• Any process involving the extraction or processing of petroleum or oil
• Any form of chemical manufacturing
• Animal and food processing
• Metal and mineral processing
• Facilities used for transportation
• Waste treatment
• Pulp and paper processing
• Asphalt or cement processing and manufacturing
In most instances, the lender will require the assessment but it should be done in any eventuality before you buy a commercial property.
You should also familaise yourself with the appropriate provincial regulations for Alberta to ascertain who has to accept responsibility for the clean-up of any pollutants and whether any programs exist that would help you rehabilitate the land.
If you discover that there are environmental issues, then you always want to know the following:
1. Who caused the contamination in the first place?
2. What is the potential for any liability in the future?
3. How will this impact the real estate value in the future?
4. Is the clean-up cost worthwhile?
Buying commercial property in Calgary should be done with care and by taking the right steps to ensure you don’t get stuck with a huge clean-up project which could end up damaging your bottom line or even to make your investment untenable.
Photo By karlrobbin
