Common use of Commercial Development Clause in Contracts

Commercial Development. The commercial development will be located principally on the mound portion of the refuse fill area. The project design has been developed specifically to avoid or minimize activities that would require the removal or penetration of the soil cap. However, this section identifies a number of potential construction activities that could impact the integrity and quality of the existing cap. Commercial development activities will begin with the surcharging of the mound area. Surcharging involves the placement of eight feet or more of soil on the ground surface to promote settling of refuse and bay mud to reduce the settlement potential after site development. The soil is left in place for three months, and then is moved to another area of the site. A minimum of four feet of soil will be left over the refuse upon completion of surcharging. This remaining cap will likely be more dense as a result of the surcharging and grading process. The developer plans to perform surcharging tests to select the optimum soil surcharge depth. Such testing is intended to prevent the use of excessive soil loadings that could lead to a differential settlement of the mound area and the creation of cracks or fissures in the existing cap. 192 A few of the buildings and parking lots may require the excavation of refuse and re-establishment of the cap at a lower grade. only preliminary site elevations have been established at this time, therefore the extent of such excavations, if any, has not been determined. Plans call for avoiding excavation whenever possible. If cap removal were necessary, preliminary estimates are that it is unlikely to occur over more than 8,000 square feet of the site at any one time. Excavations for utilities are not expected to exceed the cap depth in most cases. Current plans call for utility lines to be located in common trenches wherever possible to reduce the amount of excavation. Where it is necessary to penetrate the cap, the developers have indicated that the extent of open trench at any one time can be limited, and trenches can be backfilled daily. The developers have indicated that open trenches are unlikely to exceed the dimensions of 3 by 200 feet (600 square feet) at any one time. Foundation excavations will be made within the cap soils. The commercial buildings will not require pilings or footings that will penetrate the refuse fill cap. No other significant cap disturbing activities have been identified that will be associated with the commercial development on the refuse fill areas.