Whitehall Tannery lakeside development begins, years of contamination on its way out

The Muskegon Chronicle reports that excavation of decades-worth of contaminated soil has begun at the site of the former Whitehall Leather Tannery. Could the promised multi-million-dollar lakeside residential development actually be on its way?

According to excerpts from the story:

Heavy-duty excavating equipment is digging up contaminated soils at the site of the former Whitehall Leather Co. tannery — raising hopes a long-awaited redevelopment is finally near. The ongoing transformation of the tannery site — now clear of the buildings that used to house a high-employment industry and community gathering place — is in the environmental cleanup stage.

The next step, likely 2012 at the earliest, would be construction of a residential development. Cleanup activities started in October, and Whitehall City Manager Scott Huebler said the plan is to have as much as possible of the contaminated soils removed from the site this year.

Read the complete story here.