Meeting on Hilton Davis cleanup tonight

A public meeting to discuss the cleanup of the former Hilton Davis site will be held tonight at 7:30 PM at the Pleasant Ridge Recreation Center, 5915 Ridge Avenue.

Dr. Henry S. Cole of Henry S. Cole & Associates will provide an independent assessment of the Kodak Company's cleanup plan, and the community will determine if it is acceptable to their neighborhood and to the City.

Pleasant Ridge has been fighting to have the site at 2345 Langdon Farm Road (BIRD'S EYE), which manufactured dyes and specialty chemicals, cleaned up for nearly 20 years.

Remediation of the site - including four waste lagoons, contaminated soil and a ravine that was used as a dump for chemical by-products - was mandated in a 1986 state court decision and began in 1987.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been slow to make any decisions on Kodak's cleanup plan or any other aspect of the property's future, and many in Pleasant Ridge feel like both may be cutting corners and violating the terms of the court-ordered consent decree.

With work on the site wrapping up and the EPA's corrective measures study soon to come, the neighborhood will have a 60-day window to voice its concerns.

Previous reading on BC:
Council votes to end Hilton Davis funding (12/20/07)
Health Department to end Hilton Davis funding (12/11/07)