Work Begins to Transform Chevy in the Hole to Chevy Commons

Work began on Tuesday to turn the compost at Chevy in the Hole in the next step of the site's cleanup and reuse. The City of Flint says they contracted Resource Recycling Services to bring in a windrowing machine to turn over the compost as a necessary step to removing it from the site. Plans for the site include layering a layer of topsoil down over the cement and growing trees over it. This work will contribute to the final green space and park which will be know as Chevy Commons.

The work that began on Tuesday turns the compost to bring the buried portions to the surface to produce aeration, which aids in the composting process. A byproduct of the process is a smell like topsoil or rotting leaves. Once sufficient turning and composting has occurred, a sifting machine will be brought on site to remove the large pieces of debris such as sticks and other objects. What is left will be topsoil, the first 11,000 cubic yards which can be reincorporated as a soil cap for the site.

The City of Flint had used the site as a repository for yard waste since 2009 but stopped in 2012. Now that the site will no longer be used for composting, excess material currently onsite can be reintegrated into the soil cap to begin the transformation into Chevy Commons. Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft says "the greening of this area was a key component to the recent Master Plan. Converting that compost into topsoil is an important step in the process of the Chevy Commons project."

Work at the site will take place throughout the summer to continually turn the compost and keep it at a uniform consistency. Once the sifting process is completed and the topsoil needed onsite has been used, the remainder will be used for further land rehabilitation.