City announces new tighter procedures to ensure quality of demolition dirt; launches website map to help residents track sites being tested for possible unapproved fill material

The City of Detroit Construction & Demolition Department today announced a series of improvements to its process of placing fill dirt at the sites of recent demolitions to ensure they meet contractual and environmental standards.

The changes come as the city conducts soil testing at more than 400 sites after investigation by the Office of Inspector General, in cooperation with the Construction and Demolition Department, called into question the quality of the soil provided by supplier Iron Horse in Milford Township. Subsequent investigation by the Detroit Police Department also flagged nearly 200 more sites due to unclear documentation of the source of the fill material used by demolition contractor Gayanga.

The initial results of the ongoing investigations were made public in late 2024. Any sites where testing shows levels of elements that exceed accepted EGLE environmental standards will be removed and replaced with new material. As of March 3, 62 sites have had fill material removed and replaced.

Going forward, changes to the city's process for placing demolition fill material will include:

• Using only approved native/virgin material sites. The city will no longer use fill taken from other residential developments in the region or stockpiled material that is difficult to verify quality on a consistent basis.
• Reduced the total number of approved primary source sites from 14 to 7 for better quality control.
• Developing a protocol to test material at each source pit. Source pits also will be subject to monthly inspections, as opposed to annual inspections.
• Enhancing city contracting language to increase the city's ability to ensure that the material that left the source is the same material placed at the demolition site.
• Developing a protocol for random testing of fill material as it is placed at the demolition site

"Shortly after she took office in January, Mayor Sheffield directed us to take immediate action to tighten controls on our supply of demolition site fill material so residents will have no questions that sites of any future demolitions are safe," said Palazzolo. "These new measures already in place or being put in place, do that."

Neighbor Notifications, New Interactive Website Better Inform Community

Palazzolo also said that as a part of the Mayor's call for greater transparency in the soil testing process at these sites, his department has distributed informational flyers to all homes within a 400-foot radius of each lot that has been flagged for testing, informing them of the location of the lot in the area being tested and a QR code directing them to where they can find the test results, once they are available.

As an added layer of transparency, Palazzolo said that his team also has launched an interactive website map that identifies the location of demolition sites that have been flagged for testing. Dots on the map are color coded to show their current status (to be tested, tested and awaiting results, tested clean, excavation in process and excavation complete). When visitors click on the dot it will provide the exact address of the lot being tested.

"Mayor Sheffield expressed how important it is to her that residents living near these sites are fully informed," said Construction and Demolition Department Director Tim Palazzolo.

As more testing is done and more results are received, the website map will be updated to reflect the new information, and the status of any additional excavations that might be warranted.