Chemical plant poisoned soil on 45-acre site in Modesto. Decades later, new uses may be close
New businesses finally could rise at the former FMC Corp. chemical plant in Modesto, the site of a massive soil cleanup.
From 1945 to 1984, FMC made television tubes and safety flares at the site, along Highway 99 near Kansas Avenue. It left behind unsafe levels of barium, strontium, arsenic and fuel, state officials said.
The cleanup on the 45 acres was completed in 2007, but the site remains bare. FMC is working with Buzz Oates Inc., a Sacramento-based developer, on possible new uses.
This could involve three or four buildings for industrial or warehouse use, according to an email Tuesday from Katelyn Moore, development project manager for Oates..
“So long as our due diligence supports moving forward, we hope to submit a formal development plan review application within the next 30 to 60 days,” she said.
Site is just off two Modesto highways
The site has easy access from Highway 99 and the newly rerouted Highway 132. Just to the east is the Crystal Creamery dairy plant. To the north is a Modesto Irrigation District power plant fueled by natural gas. The Union Pacific Railroad parallels 99 in this area.
FMC paid for the cleanup, overseen by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control. Most of the estimated 10,000 cubic yards of soil was trucked to a Kings County landfill designed for hazardous waste. The excavation also brought up nontoxic soil that went to a conventional landfill near Altamont Pass.
Other FMC dirt had been moved in the 1960s to become berms for the future 132 corridor. When its exact route was finally picked a decade ago, the state approved a plan to encase the soil in concrete. Officials said the chemical levels are safe, but many neighbors were not persuaded. The new 132 opened last year, bypassing three miles of Maze Boulevard.
The FMC site also is monitored for groundwater pollution by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Land already has industrial zoning
The site is zoned for heavy industry on 12 acres close to Kansas and for light industry on the other 33. The former generally allows manufacturing and other intensive uses, buffered from residential areas.
As part of the development process, the owner got approval in 2021 for what’s known as a tentative parcel map. It would have expired June 7 but the Modesto Planning Commission granted a two-year extension. This body and the City Council would vote on the ultimate project.
FMC, based in Philadelphia, provides pesticides, fertilizers and related goods and services around the world. It launched in 1883 with a pump designed to spray an insect known as scale in California orchards, decades before spraying was common. The initials stand for Food Machinery and Chemical.
