Shelby Township town hall addresses Mound Road industrial site

During a town hall with residents, Shelby Township Attorney Rob Huth and Dragun Corp. founder Dr. James Dragun explained the environmental hazards and potential threats at 50500 Mound Road.

The meeting featured review of more than 8,000 pages of reports from testing at the site and a “Response Activity Plan” for the location’s remediation, which previously housed a Ford Motor Co. plant.

“It is evident that contamination is coming from the former Ford plant, and the contaminated area is at least twice the size of what we original reported in August of 2012,” Dragun said.

“And the contamination in groundwater has most likely migrated to Shelby Township’s ballpark property, which is located to the east of the former Ford plant and the boundary of the Manors at Central Park subdivision to the south.”

While there is no immediate danger to any homes on public water supply, Dragun said the “threat” posed by the contamination is one of potential impact on persons and property as the contamination expands through groundwater.

“There is a threat because we did find, at the very near the boundary of the Ford plant and the Manors subdivision, 17 parts per billion of TCE. And we know the groundwater is going in the direction of the homes,” Dragun said.

“We took the necessary steps through the court to help ensure that this site would be free from contamination in a timely manner,” Huth added of the legality of who is responsible for the cleanup. “Because of thorough work by Planning Director Glenn Wynn and Building Director Tim Wood prior to demolition, Shelby Township is protected.”

The protection Huth referred to was established as the township issued a demolition permit to Indiana Metals LLC, which purchased the land and its existing buildings from Ford Motor Co.

One of the stipulations of the permits was Indiana Metals retain culpability for environmental remediation --  a responsibility Indiana Metals placed in the hands of Ford Motor Co.  The responsibilities of the parties were confirmed by way of a consent judgment.

“We allowed Indiana Metals to demolish this site under certain terms, and one was to have it environmentally sound and to do so by May 2013,” Huth said. “But Ford owed a duty to Indiana Metals to make sure this site is in order environmentally.”

The town hall meeting was another step in Shelby Township’s commitment to transparency through the process of the demolition, remediation and possible future development of the land at 50500 Mound Road.

“The township has continued to post all information on the website,” Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said, noting all of the findings from Dragun Corp. are posted at www.shelbytwp.org with hard copies of the results available at the municipal building at 52700 Van Dyke Ave.

“Everything we have, the residents have,” Huth added.