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Meeting October 17, 2001
Maple Park and Victory Heights Advisory Council
for the Dutch Boy Site & Former West Pullman Works Site
Wednesday, October 17, 2001, 7:00 P.M.
Edward H. White Academy, 1130 West 122nd Street, Chicago, Illinois
*The following is a Summary of the discussion of the October 17, 2001 Advisory Council meeting. It is not meant to serve as a transcript of the proceedings*
The 30th meeting of the Maple Park and Victory Heights Advisory Council for the Dutch Boy site and the Former West Pullman Works site, formerly known as International Harvester, was held at the Edward White Elementary School, 1130 South 122nd Street on October 17, 2001 from 7-9p.m. A synopsis of the meeting follows:
- Welcome and Introductions
- Review of June 20, 2001 meeting summary
- Review any unfinished business/discussions from June 20, 2001 meeting
- Dutch Boy Update
- Former West Pullman Works Update
- City of Chicago Update
- Next meeting date
Attendees included:
- U.S. EPA: Janet Pope, Public Affairs
- IEPA: Mark Britton, Community Relations
- Former West Pullman Works Site Team: Gail Walker (EnviroCom), Martin Hamper (ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller Inc.)
- City of Chicago Dept. of Environ.: Renante Marante, Enviro. Coordinator
- Community Representatives: Ardis Williams, Leonard Tuner, Edna Harris,
Dannese Flennoy, John Chenier, Abbas Hassain, William Lanier - Other Attendees: Kimberly Whooper, Tiffany Whooper, Clive Neish, Dewitt Grant, Mike Barlago, Monica Akins, Tonya Weathersby, Sharon Oliver
*Other persons may have attended, but were unable to sign the sign-in sheet.
I. Welcome and Introductions
The facilitator, Janet Pope, opened the meeting, conducted introductions and reviewed the agenda items.
II. Review of June 20, 2001 meeting summary
There were no corrections made to the June 20, 2001 meeting minutes. It was then agreed that the Council would place the minutes within the information repository.
>III. Review any unfinished business/discussions from June 20, 2001 meeting
There was no unfinished business from the June 20, 2001 meeting.
IV. Dutch Boy Update
Brad Bradley, the Remedial Project Manager, shared with the Council an update on the sampling activities to date. Residential yards cleanup: Sampling on-going. Thru preliminary results last year we found some yards (around the site) were contaminated, and additional homes were found with high lead levels at the edge of the cleanup zone.
Clean up will probably not begin before year end (due to close because
of winter season), work will probably start back in the spring, by this time
we have a chance to get all the property agreements approved.
Everyone should be getting sampling results, if you do not please contact
Brad Bradley at once at (312) 886-4742. Brad will also be available to interpret
any data from the sampling results that you may have problems with.
There is a possibility of higher lead levels near the “drip zone”, possibly due to paint. If this is the case, U.S. EPA does not have the authority to clean up that area.
Q. Were there removal of any other contaminants on-site? Ans: Some
samples went greater than 10 feet. Chemicals found were not at a high level,
but lead was consistently high.
Q. What about homes near the Drip Zone? Ans: Reality is that some
homes will have problems (high levels) near the drip zone.
Q. What is a HEPA Vacuum? Ans: The HEPA Vacuum is a machine which vacuums additional levels of lead within the home. This vacuum can be used for interior clean up. The Contractor can provide this for you.
V. Former West Pullman Works Update
Martin Hamper of ARCADIS G&M summarized the project activities at the Former West Pullman Works site. In consideration of the many new attendees at the meeting, Mr. Hamper provided background information about the site activities over the past few years, comprehensively noting the removal underground storage tanks, the cleaning of the tunnels and basements, the removal of the debris piles and asbestos containing material, and the approximately 100 soil borings that have been collected from across the site. In terms of the project update, he explained that more soil borings may be needed to more clearly define and delineate areas needing specific remediation. Determining the appropriate type of remediation technique to be used will be the following step.
Mr. Hamper also reminded area residents to call the project telephone hotline if holes are seen in the fence at the site of the Former West Pullman Works site. The telephone number (312-939-5121) is posted on the site fence.
The following questions and comments were raised by Advisory Council members and the other meeting attendees:
Q: What is the schedule for when the next newsletter will be issued? Ans: Gail Walker responded that the next newsletter will be issued in conjunction with a project milestone, likely in spring 2002 when data results are in and remedy selection is to be determined.
Q: Are there storage tanks on the site that have substances that can cause cancer? Have any studies been done to determine how much cancer is in the area surrounding the sites? Do the storage tanks leak? Ans: Mr. Hamper responded that soil samples were taken from around the tanks and some tanks did leak, while some did not. Leaks were confined, as the area geology is that there is 60 feet of clay on top of the limestone bedrock.
Q: There was a supplemental surface investigation -- are the boring results complete? Ans: Mr. Hamper responded that the data results are not yet in. Once the information is available, areas of excedence and areas to further sample with be determined.
VI. Chicago Department of Environment Update
Amforge Site - City completed the concrete demolition and is completing the surficial clean-up of the property. Surficial clean-up included the removal of oily soils and “free product.” To facilitate the City,s redevelopment efforts, the 17 acre property was divided into two sections (a west 10 acres and an east 7 acres) under the IEPA,s Site Remediation Program. DOE is focusing on the west section first as the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) expects to soon finalize negotiations with the developer on this portion of the property. DOE submitted a Comprehensive Site Investigation Report, a Tier III Risk Assessment, and a Remedial Objectives Report to the IEPA. DOE is currently awaiting IEPA response on the reports.
Dutchboy Site - City completed the concrete demolition and hazardous waste removal at the site early 2001. As previous investigation have primarily focused on lead contamination on the property, the City conducted a comprehensive environmental site investigation on the property late summer. A comprehensive investigation is required to demonstrate to the IEPA that the property has been throughly characterized in accordance with the Site Remediation Program as part of obtaining a No Further Remediation (NFR) letter.
Additional lead hazardous waste materials were discovered during the site investigation. DOE contacted U.S. EPA and requested assistance in removing the additional contamination. U.S. EPA is considering DOE,s request but will go onsite and conduct sampling to confirm DOE,s findings.
Area 6 (property just east of Church) - City received a draft NFR letter from IEPA for the property. IEPA will finalize the NFR letter once it receives updated surveys and legal descriptions from the City excluding the recently constructed ADA Street.
Parcel 12-1 Property (southeast corner of 120th and Peoria) - City will soon have ownership of this 12 acre property. City will fence and secure property as soon as City has title to the property.
Area 15/16 Properties (properties along 122nd Street between school and Peoria Street) - DOE will be conducting environmental investigations of the properties in support in support of the City,s plans to acquire these properties.
VII. Next meeting date
Agenda topics for the next meeting were not discussed at this meeting.
The next meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 13, 2002,
7-9p.m. at the Edward White School.
Questions, comments, and/or amendments regarding this meeting summary will be taken and discussed at the beginning of the next meeting (February 13, 2002). The amendments will be made at the next meeting with the corrected meeting summary placed in the information repository after the meeting date. The summary was prepared by the U.S. EPA, IEPA, the City Dept. of Environment and the contractors for Navistar, ARCADIS Geragthy & Miller, Inc. and EnviroCom.