ONTARIO, Ohio – Councilman Larry Arnold said he felt as if he were caught in a “bad episode” of the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” during Ontario City Council’s meeting Thursday evening in the Hellinger Municipal Building.
It wasn’t the only reference to the comedy about a time loop during the meeting, which featured an in-depth discussion about the city’s former General Motors property with representatives from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust, and development company the Adler Group.
The 267-acre property on W. Fourth St. in Ontario was purchased from RACER in 2012 by the Brownfield Communities Development Company.
The Ontario council has been unhappy with how long it is taking to resolve issues at the site.
“I’ve got the Adlers over here saying it’s the RACER Trust; I’ve got the RACER Trust over here saying it’s Adler; and I’ve got the EPA, which we are looking to for direction, saying, ‘We’ve got this, we’ve got this, we’ve got this,’ Arnold said of the entities involved with the site.
“At this point right now, we are a small community – we’re not paid professionals to spin in the way that makes it sound most beneficial to your particular entity.”
He continued by saying that the situation is “frustrating” because the community is “caught in the middle” and is unable to do anything but ask questions.
“I don’t care whose fault it is, I just want the entities to work together and find a resolution,” he said.
RACER Trust Redevelopment Manager Bruce Rasher responded by telling Arnold to remember that “Groundhog Day” had a happy ending.
“I’m not trying to make light of it – I share your concerns,” he said. “I would feel exactly the way you feel if I were sitting up there. I was an elected official sitting behind a dais for 14 years, so I think I know something about how you’re feeling about this.”
He said if the he weren’t telling council “very bluntly” what RACER’s views are, he would be doing the community a disservice.
“It’s not casting blame when you’re asking questions, and we’re providing answers,” he said.
Possible Timeline: Approval to clean up approximately 1,000 square feet of contaminated soil was announced Oct. 23 in a news release from the trust.
RACER’s Ohio Cleanup Manager Pam Barnett said the active field remediation was just completed.
“We’re going to be working hard on a No Further Action package and should have it submitted by the end of this year,” she said.
If the EPA receives the No Further Action package by the end of the calendar year, Archie Lunsey, acting manager for the Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization, said the EPA plans to expedite the review of the environmental cleanup in order to issue a covenant not to sue.
According to the EPA website, this covenant “protects the property owner or operator and future owners from being legally responsible to the State of Ohio for further investigation and cleanup.”
“I will say to caveat this, so that you are aware that if during that review there are discrepancies found, the clock in the review process stops,” Lunsey said. “And at that point in time, we would point out those discrepancies and would issue them in a letter to RACER and the certified professional.”
Once resolved, Lunsey said RACER would give the EPA another opportunity to review the fixes, at which time the EPA could issue a covenant not to sue if it concurs that no further actions need take place.
“If all things given perfectly, in terms of no discrepancy and nothing that rises to the level that we need clarification, we should be able to have the covenant not to sue issued to the volunteer within probably 15 business days,” Lunsey said.
Development Plans: Jose Martinez, head project manager for the Florida-based Adler Group, said most warehousing tenants and distribution people interested in the site cannot use the slab currently there, adding that parking areas need to be reworked and utilities relocated.
“Our intent is along the eastern boundary of the property where there is a berm – we believe that is the most commercial and nicest area – and also along Fourth Street on the north,” he said. “What we want to do is crush up the slab and put it into the pits.”
He added that he wants to start procuring local contractors to get pricing to do the “substantial” grating work.
The site will include retail and industrial development, he said, as well as warehousing and distribution.
Seeking a Conclusion: Ontario Councilman Eddie Gallo and councilwoman Pam Drake Dykes both indicated they want to see something done sooner than later.
Gallo provided a comedic analogy for how he sees the process should be handled.
“I’ve got two teenage daughters at home, and the day is fast approaching that they are going to drag some squirrelly, pimple-faced boy in to meet me and say hello to me as I clean my guns and pet my Rottweiler, and I’m going to have to make a commitment that I’m going to walk that aisle, hand in hand, and hand them off,” he said.
“I don’t necessarily think you’ve walked that aisle completely,” he said pointing to representatives of RACER, “and I don’t necessarily think you’ve been the groom you’ve promised to be,” pointing to the Adler group representative. “We better wrap this up, and you better be the groom you promised to be, and you better continue to walk the aisle until we’re done – until the handoff is made – and that’s about as clear as I can make it.”
Drake Dykes, who formerly was the GM/UAW 549 president, said the situation is “very personal” for her.
“We are a small community, and we do rely on the professionals that we deal with and unfortunately this thing did happen,” she said. “I know the process all too well, but nowhere along the line did any of us think that you’d be sitting here without some type of performance-based activity – it’s not the desired target that was discussed.
“So, with all due respect, we do appreciate you being here; we realize you all have professional things and realize there are a ton of legalities here, but all we’re asking for is when we make a phone call for it not to be three months later and not get an answer.”
She said it is “not acceptable” to a community of Ontario’s size.
“We have lost 10 major manufacturers in this county, and it was the last major one,” she continued. “This county has suffered tremendously and needs this growth – it needs this more than anything. We’ve lost several tenants that could have been here because we’re playing hopscotch.
“And guess what, ‘Groundhog Day’ isn’t going to have a happy ending that any of us can see in sight, and it is really depressing. We try to represent the people, we try to sit here and do our jobs and go to work and be positive, and you want to grow this community that has the right, and every person in this community has worked really hard for that.
“… We hope and we pray that someone will step up.”
She added that she’s leaving council in a few months and that serving on it has been an honor.
“And I would sure like to think that the world that we came from, that helped build this community, can at least return something back to this community, and we can all move forward with a better attitude,” she said.
