A recent environmental assessment of the Leelanau County courthouse property in Leland "shows some areas on the property displaying elevated levels of contaminants," according to county officials.

The presence of contaminants on the two-plus acre site may actually be good news for the county and for Varley-Kelly Properties, L.L.C. which is purchasing the property from the county and hopes to develop a residential neighborhood there. The developers hope to take advantage of funding opportunities and tax advantages that may be available through the county’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

The county, meanwhile, is planning to move next year into a new Government Center now under construction in Suttons Bay Township.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) provided county officials with a site analysis of the county’s Leland property last week, according to a statement from county Planning and Community Development Department director Trudy Galla.

The assessment indicated that contaminants were “possibly due to historic iron smelting businesses that operated northwest along the (Leland) river over a century ago and some gasoline by-products left over from a leaking underground storage tank that was removed and closed by the MDEQ after significant remediation and analysis.”

An environmental consultant working with Varley-Kelly Properties, Mac McClelland of Otwell-Mawby, said the contaminants present a minimal risk to the community and to the redevelopment.

“In fact,” McClelland said, “the redevelopment of the site will remove the soil surface that contains the metals and address a primary environmental condition of the site.”

Contaminants discovered in groundwater were in the shallow aquifer about 10 feet below the ground, officials said. To ensure safe drinking water for the redevelopment project, a water supply system is being considered that may include a central well with a distribution system.

The Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority may seek brownfield incentives that will help finance environmental cleanup on the property, Galla said.

Last month, the county’s Brownfield board learned that the developers hope to apply for some $900,000 in grants and loans from the MDEQ to help pay for the cleanup.

Developers hope to put 22 to 25 units on the property in a mix of housing types – single and multiple family. They submitted a bid of $2.4 million to purchase the property once the courthouse and other county facilities are vacated.

The next meeting of the Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will be on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 9:30 a.m. at the River Office Meeting Room across from the courthouse in Leland.

The Leland project is scheduled to be on the agenda for discussion and possible action by the board at its next meeting, according to Galla. The meetings are open to the public.