The demolition at the house on 4551 25th St. two years ago cost Detroit taxpayers $22,500.
Removing and replacing the toxic dirt used to fill the site is expected to cost them nearly $93,000.
Detroit City Council members this week were confronted with the highest cleanup contract proposal yet in Detroit’s so-called “dirty dirt” saga, as questions loom over how much remediation will ultimately cost.
A recent Free Press review found the total cost of testing and dirt removal and replacement could be about $27 million. The city’s top attorney responded that he believed it would be less than the $15 million set aside in a reserve fund to contend with the issue, but declined to answer Free Press questions about how much the city has awarded in contracts thus far.
Contamination above state environmental regulations was uncovered at the 25th Street property as the city tests what it suspects are up to 651 tainted properties connected to a demolition contractor and a city-approved soil supplier. Detroit’s government watchdog and the FBI are investigating.
Soil removal and replacement is in progress or complete at more than 100 properties that tested positive for contaminants exceeding state environmental limits.
A Wayne State University soils expert told the Free Press in June that remediation will likely cost about $45,000 per property – well above the $18,000 former Mayor Mike Duggan estimated when he revealed the breadth of the contamination in December.
At a meeting of the council’s Public Health and Safety committee Monday June 22, a demolition department official blamed the $92,880 cleanup cost at 25th Street on the amount of pollutants found at the site.
“This is the first property that did exceed the criteria for hazardous waste which is why the cost for this property is significantly higher than some of the other properties that have been brought before council,” said Detroit demolition department planning and strategy manager Nick Payne.
Council members on the committee balked at the price tag and postponed voting on it, saying more discussion is needed before it can be advanced to the full council.
One council member noted that when Sheffield administration officials recently requested approval for $52,000 to clean up a former demo site on Pennsylvania Avenue, council was told such requests would be rare. According to Bridge Detroit, city procurement officer Eric Cooper called the $52,000 contract a “pricier one” they would not “see a lot of.”
“My concern, again, is the last one was $50K, and we were told that that’s more on the higher side,” Council member Denzel McCampbell said during the Monday hearing. “Now we’re getting $90K, so I’m like, OK, what actually is the higher side?”
In response to a Free Press inquiry, demolition department spokeswoman Raquel Harrington said, “Remediation costs for material that is considered hazardous are higher because they require specialized handling, transportation and disposal.
“To date, this is the only property within the current pool of tested sites where material has been identified that requires hazardous waste handling and disposal,” she said.
Testing has been completed at 178 properties, according to publicly available city data last updated in early June.
Harrington said the 25th Street property is only the second that has exceeded the $50,000 threshold triggering a requirement for City Council approval.
Adding to the cost of cleanup is the cost of testing the sites. On Tuesday June 23, council unanimously approved expanding a contract to test the properties to $4.5 million, following months ofdebate and postponements. Council members first wanted a special session to learn more about the issue. That session was scheduled for June 16 and closed to the public, with city officials citing pending litigation.
The city’s demolition program razed at least 27,000 houses between 2014 and 2025 and it cost approximately $500 million. The first iteration of the program was federally funded. In 2020, Detroit voters approved a bond to spend an additional $250 million taking down and repairing most of the city’s remaining abandoned houses.
Who filled 4551 25th St.?
City data obtained by the Free Press through an open records request shows soil provided for the demolition at 4551 25th St. came from Milford Township-based Iron Horse, the dirt supplier at the center of the latest known contamination. The city has said Iron Horse sourced dirt to four demolition contractors between 2024 and 2025.
The contractor that demolished the house at the 25th Street property was SC Environmental, city data shows.
Iron Horse was registered with the city as having a “native” sand and gravel pit with undisturbed materials, but other soil piles trucked in from elsewhere were also on the site, according to Iron Horse owner Rodney Burrell and annual inspection reports compiled by city contractor AKT Peerless and obtained by the Free Press through a public records request. The inspections were visual and did not include soil sampling.
Burrell told the Free Press in early June that he provided only native materials for Detroit’s demolition program, and blamed the contamination on demolition contractor Gayanga – the company under investigation by Detroit’s inspector general and the FBI, in part due to allegations of fraud in documentation reflecting the soil sources it used.
The company was suspended from doing work for Detroit’s demolition in September and said it was shutting down in May.
Gayanga attorney Todd Perkins said Thursday that the company sourced backfill only from city-approved sites and has been unfairly accused.
“Gayanga used the same city-approved sources the Construction & Demolition Department put on its public list, yet we alone were accused of sourcing fill from somewhere we didn’t,” Perkins said. “It was only after we identified our supplier and handed over the records that the city tested other sites and found the same elevated contamination elsewhere, including one cleanup now costing roughly $92,880.
“Had the Inspector General investigated before making public accusations against Gayanga, this source would have been stopped sooner and far fewer holes would have been filled with contaminated dirt.”
Gayanga in May sued the Detroit Office of the Inspector General for defamation, seeking $100 million in damages.
Iron Horse’s Burrell is a former Northville hauling company owner who pleaded guilty in 2010 to submitting an inflated bid to help former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s friend Bobby Ferguson win a contract. Burrell’s Iron Horse was approved by the city as a dirt supplier for the demolition program in 2023 and suspended Nov. 3, after initial city testing revealed contamination at numerous sites connected with the company.
Reached for comment Thursday about the soil used by SC Environmental to fill the site at 4551 25th St., Burrell maintained he was not to blame.
“Didn’t hear anything about it, don’t know a thing,” he said. “Mine is native soil.”
SC Environmental did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. The company has rebranded as SC Services following its sale to a new ownership group in 2023, according to SC Services’ website.
Heavy metal found in soil
Harrington declined to provide the Free Press with the test report reflecting the contaminants at the property on 25th Street, citing agency “process,” but said “the exceedance identified … was lead.”
The lot at 4551 25th St. sits next to a house owned by an individual, on an otherwise vacant block of overgrown land.
On Wednesday June 24, the Free Press found the property covered by tall grass and weeds, with no fencing around it to prevent people from entering.
Wayne State University environmental engineering professor and soils expert Bill Shuster said the risk of hazardous waste to the public “depends on what it is.”
Heavy metals such as lead present a limited risk in backfill soil so long as they are buried and vegetated and the vacant lot isn’t disturbed, such as if vehicles drive on it and expose the soil, he said.
Duggan previously warned that contamination can also impede future development, rendering building costs “far more expensive.”
To remediate the contaminated properties, the city is excavating approximately 6 feet of dirt that was used to fill basement holes.
Council concerns about rising costs, public health
Council members at Monday’s committee meeting expressed frustration with the cost of the contract while emphasizing what they called the need to protect public health.
“I think everyone wants to get this remediated and done but I also want to make sure we have enough funds to do so,” said McCampbell, adding, “I do want to protect our folks.”
“I would rather see a full picture of what’s going to be asked of the city,” said Council member Mary Waters. “They should have brought a full plan to us, laid it out, so we know exactly what’s going on … but at the same time I’m concerned about where our children might be playing this summer.”
Council member Gabriella Santiago Romero echoed those concerns, but added she was troubled by the growing price tags.
“I just do have concerns seeing contracts at 90-some thousand dollars,” she said.
McCampbell said he feared the city could be losing money by awarding contracts one at a time rather than bundling them to achieve efficiencies.
Payne, the demolition department official, said the nearly $93,000 contract had already been awarded and bid, but that future cleanup contracts would likely be bundled.
Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter at the Free Press focused on government and police accountability in Detroit. Contact her at vikonomova@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit ‘dirty dirt’ saga: Cleanup at one property to cost $93K
Reporting by Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
