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RACER Buick City

RACER Buick City

Contact

Jeremy Pepin
PepinJ2@Michigan.gov
517-219-2288

The RACER Buick City site is located at 902 East Leith Street in Flint. It is a former automotive manufacturing facility that General Motors Corporation dispensed with when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011. The site is now owned and managed by the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust (RACER). RACER is responsible for the corrective action environmental cleanup activities required to be performed at the site under Part 111, Hazardous Waste Management, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), and the administrative rules promulgated thereunder.

For a brief history on the site details, click on the timeline below.

timeline of racer buick site. For more information, please contact EGLE staff.
RACER currently owns about 333 acres, with approximately 80 acres having been sold and redeveloped for new manufacturing operations.  RACER continues to work on completing the necessary corrective action environmental cleanup work for the entire 413-acre site.    

For more information about the investigation into per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), please visit the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART): RACER Buick City Webpage.

In accordance with Part 4, Water Quality Standards, of the NREPA, and Part 22, Groundwater Quality, of the NREPA, RACER is required to maintain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and to monitor their discharges from the site into the Flint River. For more information on RACER’s Buick City NPDES permit and any groundwater investigation, please contact Brian Zuber, EGLE, Water Resources Division, at ZuberB@Michigan.gov or 517-388-0267.
 
RACER Buick City Property Boundary Map

Corrective Action

Since August 27, 2022, RACER and the Flint Commerce Center, LLC, the prospective purchaser of the Buick City site, have submitted multiple documents to EGLE, Materials Management Division (MMD). These documents proposed well abandonment, additional property use restrictions, concrete slab removal and other activities and documentation of achieved cleanup objectives for Block 7. Additional corrective measures being considered for onsite contamination include soil consolidation, groundwater treatment, and sewer bulkheading to prevent contaminant migration.

RACER seeks to sell 293 acres of the site to be redeveloped into the Flint Commerce Center, a potential 3.5 million square foot industrial distribution center for prospective businesses. 

EGLE is currently reviewing the submitted documents to ensure that the proposed actions pose no risks to human health or the environment, and that they comply with the 2020 Corrective Action Consent Order between EGLE and RACER; the Part 111, Hazardous Waste Management, of the NREPA; Part 201, Environmental Remediation, of the NREPA; and the rules promulgated under these parts. The documents currently being reviewed include:

  1. RACER’s January 27, 2023, Proposed Area of Contamination for Block 4
  2. RACER’s February 9, 2023, Revised Monitoring Well Abandonment Procedure
  3. RACER’s March 17, 2023, Block 4 Well Abandonment and Groundwater Monitoring Plan
  4. RACER’s March 24, 2023, Blocks 2, 3, 5, 6 Proposed Areas of Contaminations for Approval
  5. RACER’s March 29, 2023, Blocks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 Monitoring Well Abandonment Plan
  6. RACER’s April 7, 2023, Short-Term Construction Monitoring Plan
  7. RACER’s April 18, 2023, Infiltration & PFAS-LNAPL Management Plan
  8. Ashley Capital’s April 20, 2023, Concrete Raze and Reuse Plan
  9. Ashley Capital’s April 26, 2023, Soil Management Plan
  10. RACER’s July 7, 2023, Revised RCRA Draft Restrictive Covenant with AOCs, WMU, MW Abandonment, and Utilities for Remaining 273 acres
  11. RACER's September 28, 2020, Site Investigation Update Summary
  12. RACER's September 28, 2020, Site Investigation Update Figures
  13. RACER's May 18, 2018 Declaration of Restrictive Covenant
     

Community Outreach 

How to Stay Connected

Complete this form to be placed on the official RACER Buick City mailing list to receive required notifications from both EGLE and the RACER Buick City.

Through your observations and reporting of activities of concern, you play a valuable role in helping the EGLE protect human health and the environment.  To file a complaint or share details about improper waste handling or disposal, contact EGLE through the Pollution Emergency Alerting System (PEAS) Hotline at 800-292-4706.