In spite of the fact that the town property on which the community garden rests is virtually unsalable for any kind of industrial development due to, down its length, it being a FLOODPLAIN (aka "hazard lands"), the community garden is going to be moved to a new site.

The proposed site for the community garden was used in its most recent past as a snow storage field. This is important even in Southern Ontario. At our regional food network's insistence, the soil was tested for contaminants and organic matter, and it was also given a boost with some other topsoil "fill" from a previous parkland place (they scraped off a grassy soccer field to make a new, artificial-turf soccer field in its place).

I have a question about the heavy metals table in the report, however. We have been assured by our federal, provincial, and local governments that the soil is suitable for food crops. The tables state that yea and verily, this is so, according to our Ministry of Environment's maximum acceptable levels of each heavy metal. We will also be adding huge truckloads of leaves and municipal compost etc. etc. every year (until they move us again, because I did NOT see the word "perpetuity" anywhere in that document ).

My only concern is the lead level in the heavy metals table. The MOE maximum acceptable level in soil is 60 milligrams per kilogram dry, and the soil tested at 29 - half the MOE acceptable level. Arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, and zinc tested well below the MOE acceptable levels.

Is this maximum indeed safe, and is this actual level also safe for food crops? What other contaminants not in the above list should I be looking at?

I wasn't this nervous about the current garden site because it was at the top of a hill, and everything drained away from it on either side. And it had never been used as anything but a residential property. The industrial park grew up around it. I've seen heavy construction machinery parked on other vacant plots of land for months at a time, not to mention construction materials and such... (And the thought of starting over again AGAIN is really depressing.)

You have my sympathy. Starting over can be a challenge, especially when you want it just right and there are issues along the way. Good luck!

I'd call a local environmental consultant....we work with them daily in commercial real estate. Talk to your local real estate board and see if you can get a name or two....give them a call and ask for some free advice. Here in the US, the standards are easily identifiable...as I'm sure they are there. A good environmental consultant will have no problem chatting with you on the phone and giving you the levels that are acceptable. Good luck! Di