LaSalle Park Cleanup Nears Completion After Years of Work

The City of South Bend has been working on a major cleanup at LaSalle Park for years, and officials say it's almost complete. The project involves testing for over 150 possible contaminants in soil and water samples, with about 1,200 truckloads of clean soil brought in to improve the land.

The City is working with Honeywell and federal and state environmental agencies on this project, which has cost around $7 million so far. Once federal regulators sign off on updated reports, they will ask to close out the park's Superfund site status.

South Bend Mayor James Mueller emphasized the importance of having legal restrictions in place to ensure that future development does not pose a risk to people's health. 'We have to have these legal convents in place to ensure than in a decade, or two or three down the road, someone doesn’t forget this history and decide, ‘We want to dig up and build something on this site,’” he said.