Great Barrington — More assessment work needs to be done to the Ried Cleaners property at 218 Main Street before any remediation work can be done, according to Assistant Town Manager and Town Planner Chris Rembold, who discussed the current status of the property at the Selectboard’s Priority Planning Meeting on July 31.
The building has sat vacant since 2006 when, after 54 years in business, owners Herbert and Nancy Ried retired. The two started Ried Cleaners back in 1952.
Several offers were made to purchase the property over the years, but each offer fell through, mostly due to multiple environmental issues with the former dry-cleaning site. The environmental issues include toxins from the dry-cleaning chemicals the company used during its 54 years in business, with the toxins found in the property’s groundwater and soil. According to a site-assessment profile on the town’s website published in August 2021, due to the storage of Perchloroethylene (PCE) in leaking underground tanks, the groundwater beneath the property is contaminated. The assessment states:
Investigations identified the presence of chlorinated solvents in the soil within the former building footprint, in the indoor air of the existing vacant building and Post Office, and in groundwater on the property and extending off the property.
Investigations and testing since 2008 determined contamination began at the old location of the back building and spread downgradient with groundwater.
The contaminant presence in the Post Office basement makes the basement unsafe for continuous occupancy. Testing has determined that the contamination does not impact properties on the west side of Main Street, like the library. Due to the nature of the contamination the next steps are to continue remediation efforts until the site is safe to use.
The back building on the property was demolished in 2008.
In 2012, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) stepped in and conducted remediation and testing work. MassDEP subsequently put a $100,000 lien on the property, which was expected to be repaid through any net proceeds from the property’s sale.
In the meantime there were reports of further environmental issues, including a report of an underground toxic plume emanating from the property in January 2016.
Also in 2016, the town began foreclosure proceedings on the property. The town officially became owners of the property in May 2019.
In May 2020, the town received a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the property.
At the July 31 Selectboard Priority Planning Meeting, Rembold told the board that, 18 years after Ried Cleaners went out of business, the town still has quite a lot of work ahead of it in order to remediate the property. “Just to be clear, the town is not liable for cleaning this up, and we didn’t contaminate [the property],” Rembold said. “But it is in the town’s interest. The Selectboard has kept this on their priority list because it is a blighted Main Street property that has redevelopment potential. In order to realize that potential, we need to get it clean. [Former] dry-cleaning sites take a long, long time. I did not know that when we started this process.”
Rembold told the board that the last time he spoke to the Selectboard about the property, he had hoped that remediation on the site would begin this calendar year. “That will not be the case,” Rembold said. “We finished in June working with the EPA during another round of assessment work to figure out exactly how to scope the cleanup. That assessment work was extremely comprehensive, doing soil borings and investigations through the water table, air gas monitoring, and all kinds of bedrock monitoring. But more assessments need to be done.”
Rembold added, “We haven’t reached the edges of the contamination [on the property] in order to really know how to neutralize the contamination.”
“[After the assessments,] hopefully we can put our EPA cleanup grant to use,” Rembold said. “The EPA has generously allowed us to keep [the grant] for many years until we can put it to work.”
Selectboard member Garfield Reid asked Rembold when assessment work would start.
“I can’t tell you when we’re able to start,” Rembold said.
Vice Chair Leigh Davis asked Rembold if there were any health and safety issues from the property impacting the town’s Post Office, which is right next door to the former Ried Cleaners property at 222 Main Street.
“The Post Office is aware of their air quality issues in their basement,” Rembold said. “It’s been like that for many years.”
Rembold added that the recent testing did not reveal any further contamination on the property.
