Ahhh... yes. Chanute. Superfund site.
A good example of what shouldn't be done.
Having 4 landfills with decades of little/no oversight or accountability of what was buried in it... around a lake. What could possibly go wrong? Don't eat the fish... LOL. Supposedly, there could be several 55 gallon barrels of 2-4-D or 2-4-5-T buried in one of the landfills.. rusting away. They can't prove beyond a doubt that they're there, but they can't prove that they're not there. Several who were there have told what they saw. Who knows what all was buried.
Dozens of concrete reinforced buildings that were used to test jet engines all the way to failure... so contaminated that they've fenced off and unused, 30 years later. Imagine what it will take to tear those down. They're literally built like bomb shelters and are toxic.
Much of the land and many of the buildings were sold well below market value to new owners who did not have the financial means to properly maintain much of it the long run. Now, many are abandoned and falling down.
Much of the base housing is now sub-standard, much of it originally bought by investors and rented out. Home values are low. Not surprisingly, crime is a bit of a problem.
The base hospital was never fully re-utilized and has sat empty for 20+ years. Falling down. A few years back, the city had to come in and pump several feet of water out of the basement. It is constantly for sale for back taxes. No one wants it, and for good reason. The city should make the Air Force come back in, and tear it down.
Tear it down the same way that White Hall had to be torn down by the Air Force. The largest government building until the Pentagon was built. One out-of-state 'investor' owner after another...all with big dreams, but without the necessary financial means to manage/renovate such a goliath. Same problems. Basement filled with water, holes in the roof, vandalism, asbestos, mold, lead based paint.