cleanup · Niagara County
Fashion Outlets / Former Sabre Park
Town of Niagara
Former mobile-home community and adjoining shopping-center expansion property with several distinct cleanup chapters. Records document contaminated fill discovered in 1978, removal of about 1,200 cubic yards of mercury-contaminated fill in 1989, buried waste encountered during a 1994 mall expansion, and a separate localized radiological-slag encounter during the 2014 brownfield cleanup. The completed commercial-use remedy relies on removals, a cover system, vapor controls, an environmental easement, and site management.
The documented story
What happened here?
This entry joins records for the former 34-acre Sabre Park mobile-home community with adjoining Fashion Outlets expansion parcels in a roughly 48.6-acre Brownfield Cleanup Program site. It is a sequence of separate discoveries and remedies, not evidence that one waste load or one company caused every condition across the property.
Union Carbide owned the Sabre Park and 1755 Factory Outlet Boulevard properties from 1949 to 1969, but the DEC decision document says its exact use of those parcels is unknown. Sabre Park was developed as a mobile-home community in the early 1970s. During a 1978 southern expansion, fill containing chlorinated solvents, mercury, and heating oil was discovered; records attribute that episode to fill inadvertently brought from Hooker Chemical property by a paving contractor.
Later sampling found additional mercury. EPA removed about 1,200 cubic yards of mercury-contaminated fill in 1989, and the state registry listing was removed in 1995. A separate 1994 mall-foundation project encountered white powder waste with a vinyl-chloride hazardous-waste characteristic; drums and debris were disposed off site in 1995, while screened soil that no longer exceeded that characteristic was placed beneath pavement.
The 2013-14 brownfield remedy addressed a wider mixture of fill, soil, groundwater, and soil-vapor concerns. During 2014 storm-sewer work, workers also encountered a localized area of slag with elevated radiation. That discovery has its own measurements and disposal controls and should not be conflated with the 1978 fill episode or the 1989 mercury excavation.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
1949-1969
Union Carbide owned the former Sabre Park and 1755 Factory Outlet Boulevard parcels; DEC says the exact historical use is unknown.
1970-1972
The wooded property was cleared, filled, graded, and developed as the Sabre Park mobile-home community.
1978
A southern expansion encountered fill containing chlorinated solvents, mercury, and heating oil. Contaminated material was excavated and taken to a permitted facility.
1986-1989
EPA sampling identified elevated mercury, and approximately 1,200 cubic yards of mercury-contaminated fill were removed in 1989 as hazardous waste.
1994-1995
Mall construction encountered buried white powder waste, drums, wood, and debris. About 3,037 cubic yards were screened; drums and debris went off site, and screened soil was placed beneath an asphalt parking area.
2013-2014
DEC selected a commercial-use brownfield remedy involving hot-spot removal, cover, vapor mitigation, an environmental easement, and long-term site management.
April 2014
Storm-sewer excavation exposed roughly 25 cubic yards of slag one to three feet below grade with elevated radiological readings. The work plan required controlled excavation, characterization, and permitted off-site disposal.
Present
The property is commercially reused under a cover system, vapor protections, groundwater-use restrictions, an environmental easement, and a site-management plan.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
Mall expansion removes the former Sabre Park mobile-home community
The redevelopment required asbestos abatement and demolition of about 170 mobile homes before the brownfield remedy and commercial expansion could proceed, making displacement and land-use change part of the site's human history.
Mark Cerrone, Inc. ↗Storm-sewer work encounters radiologically elevated slag
Construction stopped around a localized trench discovery while radiation-trained personnel characterized, controlled and arranged permitted disposal of the material; the record does not identify its producer or connect it to the earlier mercury episode.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- The 1978 fill episode involved chlorinated solvents, mercury, and heating oil; later EPA work identified mercury requiring a separate 1989 removal.
- The broader brownfield investigation identified PCBs, PAHs, chromium, chlorinated solvents, vinyl chloride, and other contaminants in defined soil, groundwater, or soil-vapor areas.
- Historical fill extended locally to about 15 feet and included soil, brick, concrete, wood, glass, rubber, slag, plastic, and metal.
- The 2014 radiological encounter was a localized trench area of roughly 25 cubic yards. Field readings were 35,000-52,000 counts per minute in the excavation and 65,000 on a returned truckload, compared with 5,000-7,000 background in the cited work plan.
- The reviewed record does not identify the industrial producer or hauler responsible for the radiological slag and does not establish that it came from the same source as the earlier chemical fill.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The 1978 response excavated affected fill, and EPA removed about 1,200 cubic yards of mercury-contaminated material in 1989 for permitted off-site disposal.
- The 1995 work separated drums and debris for off-site disposal and placed screened soil that did not exceed the vinyl-chloride hazardous-waste characteristic beneath pavement.
- The 2014 brownfield construction removed hot spots and installed a commercial-use cover made up of buildings, pavement, sidewalks, and clean soil in landscaped areas.
- Vapor mitigation, an environmental easement, a groundwater-use restriction, controlled excavation procedures, inspections, and a site-management plan govern remaining contamination.
- The radiological work plan required radiation-trained oversight, lined excavations, controlled stockpiling, gamma spectroscopy and waste characterization, and permitted off-site disposal of confirmed material.
Then and now
The site today
The Fashion Outlets expansion is a completed commercial-use brownfield remedy, not an unrestricted-use cleanup. Its protective system includes removal work plus maintained cover, vapor, land-use, groundwater, and excavation controls.
The 1978 chemical-fill incident, 1989 mercury removal, 1994-95 buried-waste response, and 2014 radiological-slag encounter are documented at this broader property but remain separate evidence streams unless a source record directly connects them.