Cincinnati may pay more funds for Hilton Davis

Cincinnati City Council is considering the payment of $9,995 to the Pleasant Ridge Community Council (PRCC) for consulting fees related to the Hilton Davis remediation site.

The payment would cover fees from Henry S. Cole & Associates incurred between January 1 and February 29 of this year at the rate of $185 per hour, with a research assistant billed at $120 per hour.

An ordinance allowing the payment has been referred to council's Finance Committee.

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 Kodak Company, a former owner of the property, is held responsible for the work.

Citizens Concerned about Hilton Davis has formally objected to Kodak's recent Comprehensive Measures Study, believing that the company is cutting corners on the cleanup and violating the terms of the court-ordered consent decree.

The Ohio EPA agrees, and Kodak is currently rewriting the study to address those concerns.

The City's Office of Environmental Quality is finalizing a contract with the PRCC that will limit future payments to $15,005, the remainder of the $25,000 the City has budgeted.

Plans for redevelopment of the industrial site have been slow to materialize, but ideas include blacktopping the site and fencing it in, building a light industrial park, or greenspace.

Previous reading on BC:
Meeting on Hilton Davis cleanup tonight (3/12/08)
Council votes to end Hilton Davis funding (12/20/07)
Health Department to end Hilton Davis funding (12/11/07)