[Link to files, NCDEQ records for “TRANSOU, RedRock, GC ROAD” are here. If you missed it, read PART 1 HERE, and PART 2 HERE.]

[NOTE: This pertains to the planned development of 28 acres of Brownfield property at Guilford College Road and Wendover Avenue in Jamestown 27282, zoned under Guilford County authority, site of a former trailer park called Red Rock.]

This one landed on our radar in January 2023, when we found that the state of NC had approved a Brownfield application for a 28-acre wooded site at the corner of Guilford College Road and Wendover Avenue, addressed in Jamestown 27282, zoned under Guilford County “authority,” taxable to the City of High Point.

Any development or soil disturbance that took place going forward would be subject to environmental assessments and an approved DEQ Environmental Management Plan. That requirement was reiterated in April 2024 when the owners of the property received approval for minor demolition: removal of one mobile home and some vegetative cutting and clearing.

Over the 2024-2025 winter months, the site was razed to the ground, leaving behind an unsightly landscape of fallen trees, sticks, stumps, piles of dirt and debris. A Work Plan for Soil, Groundwater & Vapor Assessment was submitted by the owners to the state in December 2024, but nothing has been added to the Public Records file since. Local residents say the land-clearing began in November, before the Work Plan was submitted, and a Triad Business Journal article suggests the clearing was underway as early as October 2024:

Background/Timeline

The Brownfield application was approved in July 2021. Links to the Brownfield application and documentation are in that article, HERE.

Pre-application site assessment reveals the big issue to be Chloromethane – a July 2020 review by Pilot Environmental found multiple groundwater locations that exceed North Carolina’s 2L standards (limit).

In November of 2020, Pilot wrote the Guilford County Dept. of Public Health about removing the site from the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch (IHSB) list, stating “it is Pilot’s opinion that the site should not be included on the IHSB inventory” and suggesting that the chloromethane might be related to the Transou property (which sits to the south of the site), or that it might be naturally occurring:

Red Rock Nov19-2020 Asking for removal from hazardous listDownload

In a Dec 1, 2020 response letter, the NCDEQ declined Pilot’s request, advising that regardless of where the chloromethane is coming from, it exists at multiple locations in concentrations exceeding the state’s 2L groundwater limit and therefore can’t be removed from the hazardous sites list:

“After reviewing the information submitted for the subject site by Pilot Geological, PLLC on November 19, 2020, the source of the chloromethane detected at this site remains unclear. While detections in sample locations GW-3 and GW-4 located along the Gaither Transou property line could be due to contamination at the Gaither Transou site, this contaminant has not previously been detected at the Gaither Transou site. In addition, the highest detection was at location GW-1 which is the farthest away from the Gaither Transou site and this location appears to be on the other side of a surface drainage feature based on the topographic map. The information provided is also not sufficient to demonstrate that this contaminant is naturally occurring. Without further assessment, the source and extent of the chloromethane contamination is unknown and the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch (IHSB) cannot identify a responsible party. Regardless of the source of the contamination, because chloromethane has been detected at multiple locations at concentrations exceeding the 15A 2L Groundwater Standard, this property cannot be removed from the IHSB inventory.“

Red Rock Dec1 2020 Chloromethane ltr from NCDEQDownload

Fast forward to April 2024. The developer (GCWA Partners LLC) and environmental consultant (Pilot) receive approval from the NCDEQ Brownfields section to “demolish ONE mobile home as well as vegetative cutting/above grade clearing.” A sentence in bold lettering at the bottom of the one-page document states “Please note that soil disturbance or removal of the building slabs/parking lots may not occur at the site until a DEQ Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is approved.”

Red Rock April8-2024 – ONE mobile home removal permitDownload

On December 16 2024, Pilot submits a 28-page WORK PLAN for Soil, Groundwater and Soil Vapor Assessment at the 28-acre site, to the Brownfields redevelopment section in Raleigh. In the PLAN, Pilot suggests that the Family Fare gas station on Wendover Avenue is a possible source of the contamination “… release discovered in the vicinity of a UST (underground storage tank) spill bucket was discovered in March 2019 … Based on the most recent monitoring report completed by EMS Environmental dated June 17, 2022, the plume of impacted groundwater appears to be in close proximity to the northwestern portion of the site and groundwater flow was calculated to flow to the northwest and south in the vicinity of the off-site release. This UST incident has been reportedly closed.” 

Regardless, there is NOTHING in the 28-page WORK PLAN that proposes razing and clear-cutting 28 acres of forestland so Pilot can get its soil, groundwater and vapor test samples. Nor is there an approved DEQ Environmental Management Plan in the Public Records. This is how the 28-acre site looks now:

Below is the December 2024 WORK PLAN for Soil, Groundwater and Soil Vapor Assessment:

RedRock Dec16-2024 Pilot’s site assessment work planDownload

[Link to files, NCDEQ records for “TRANSOU, RedRock, GC ROAD” are here. If you missed it, read PART 1 HERE, and PART 2 HERE.]