THE CITY continues to look into what's underneath the former Terrace Co-op shopping complex it purchased in November 2005.
Workers from Uniwide Drilling and Golder Associates were on site July 21- 22 doing soil and groundwater drilling and sampling.
The city wants to sell the site but wants to first erase any questions about what might be underground.
City's director of development services Marvin Kwiatkowsi said soil and groundwater samples are being tested for hydrocarbons, metals and solvents.
Since purchasing the site for $1 million, the city has been under increasing criticism for lack of progress in either reselling it or coming up with its own redevelopment plan.
While there was no testing inside the building, soil samples were taken on the loose soil pile and drilling was done on the northwest corner, southwest corner, southeast corner and one location close to the southern property boundary.
The soil on the northwest end of the property by Staples was dug up from the old Davis Ave. road that was reconstructed earlier this summer, and was put there for storage purposes.
Kwiatkowski said if the complex does end up being demolished, the soil will be used for foundation backfill and for providing a safe slope of the area where it's located now.
Once the work is done, Kwiatkowski said the city will then be able to decide if yet more probing is needed and what costs might be attached to dealing with contaminated materials.
The city had allotted $61,000 for the work but ended up paying only $21,000 after receiving a $40,000 provincial grant.