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Consultant estimates cleanup of former Packard facilities at $2.6 million
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
An Akron company, Brownfield Restoration Group, collected and analyzed about 300 samples of soil, groundwater and vapor at the former Packard Electric site on Dana Street and found “pockets of issues” that will cost about $2.6 million to clean up.
Jim C. Smith, president of BRG, on Wednesday explained the sampling and options the property owner can consider before deciding what to do about the contamination.
He gave the presentation to the Western Reserve Port Authority at its regular monthly meeting at the Covelli Enterprises offices.
The port authority is fronting the $200,000 cost for the assessment, known as a Phase 2, as a way to help Christopher Alan, owner of Auto Parkit, determine whether to move forward with his plans to use the facilities for administrative and manufacturing for his automated-parking-system company.
Alan, a Warren native, has stated his commitment to bringing the Los-Angeles-based company to his home town but has said he also has a backup Mahoning Valley location in case the Packard site cannot be used.
The state economic-development organization JobsOhio will reimburse the port authority the cost of the assessment and is likely to provide some of the money to carry out the cleanup, said Anthony Trevena, director of the port authority’s economic-development arm – Northeast Ohio Development and Finance Authority.
Trevena said Alan received a copy of the assessment results, but Trevena has not spoken with him about them. Alan did not reply to an emailed request from The Vindicator for comment.
“I don’t think there was anything in there that was excessively alarming to what we expected,” Trevena said of the assessment report. He said he viewed the results to be an estimate of cleanup to be between $1.5 and $2.5 million.
The property is owned by Sergio DiPaolo, a Girard demolition company owner. Alan has said he has an option on the property, but he is also continuing to negotiate with DiPaolo on its purchase.
Smith said his company analyzed 203 soil samples, 37 samples from groundwater monitoring wells and 54 from vapor points.
Smith said about $500,000 of the cost is for soil removal, disposal and replacement, but that amount could be cut in half if the property owner decides to only replace the soil in the areas of the building he plans to use.
Another $145,000 would be the cost to install a system that would trap and divert vapor from various locations that could come through the building’s flooring, Smith said.
The Packard site has one manufacturing building and one administration building on opposite sides of Dana Street. Both buildings contain contaminants, Smith said.
Besides JobsOhio, Trevena said there are other possible funding sources for the cleanup, including the developer.
“We have not identified what that source would be,” Trevena said. “That’s something that would be worked out once the state of Ohio has a business plan and they have the ownership issue worked out.”