Contractors finished removing arsenic- and lead-contaminated soil from the former Treasure Mountain Junior High campus on Thursday, July 30, clearing a key environmental hurdle for the Park City School District's $48.7 million athletic facilities project, which includes both the Treasure Mountain sports complex and Dozier Field renovations.

District spokesperson Colton Elliott confirmed the soil piles were transported to a landfill over the course of about a week, with the final loads leaving the Kearns Boulevard site Thursday afternoon, according to the Park Record.

The contaminated dirt turned up when crews demolished the old junior high building to make room for two soccer and lacrosse fields, a softball field, a baseball field, and eight tennis courts. Construction on the campus has been underway since the summer of 2025.

Why the soil had to go

The removal was required under a 2017 environmental covenant the district filed with Summit County. That agreement traces back to 2014, when the EPA discovered contaminated soil on the Treasure Mountain campus. A federal investigation followed, and in 2016 the EPA financed a cleanup that placed a six-inch cap of clean soil across the site. The district then entered the covenant "to mitigate the risk to the public health, safety and the environment."

Under the covenant, any soil that fails Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure thresholds must be disposed of off-site. The stockpiled dirt exceeded those thresholds for lead and arsenic, a legacy of Park City's mining era. The site sits within the Uintah Mine District, one of several areas up Empire Canyon targeted for federal remediation.

State said it wasn't hazardous — covenant still applied

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. EPA jointly determined the soil qualified for a Bevill exemption, meaning it did not need to be treated as hazardous waste. The UDEQ sent that determination to the district's environmental consultant on June 12. The exemption, tied to Park City's mining history, allowed the district to send the material to a permitted landfill rather than a specialized hazardous waste facility.

But the covenant's stricter standard still applied. The soil couldn't simply be reburied on site.

"Throughout the removal process, the district continues to coordinate with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to ensure all environmental and safety protocols are strictly followed, including ongoing dust mitigation and air quality monitoring," Elliott said.

Air monitoring showed no public risk

Dave Noriega, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said in April that perimeter air monitoring had consistently shown lead and dust levels below Occupational Safety and Health Administration exposure limits during the months of construction. He added that heightened arsenic and lead levels are to be expected in a historic mining town like Park City and do not necessarily pose health concerns.

The district also went beyond what regulators required. While only one specific stockpile was mandated to be covered, the district covered all contaminated soil piles on site as a precaution. A full-time environmental consultant was on site throughout construction, and contractors sent weekly soil sample reports to the UDEQ. The agency also visited the site once a month.

No fines have been issued. Noriega previously said penalties are reserved for "a significant violation, which has not occurred" in Park City.

What's next

As we reported July 29, the city-owned Bonanza Park site a few blocks away faces its own contamination cleanup, with lead levels nearly twice what was found at Treasure Mountain. That project is separate from the school district's work.

With the soil now gone, the district's sports complex construction can proceed without the environmental compliance overhang. The school district hopes to have the new athletic facilities ready for most or all of the fall 2026 sports season.