The state Department of Environmental Conservation is taking public comments on a plan to clean up the location of a former Roxy Cleaners on Delaware Avenue in Elsmere.
The agency will hold a public meeting Monday, March 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bethlehem Public Library to outline the plans and take comments from the public. The property, at 156 Delaware Ave., was declared a superfund site by the agency in 2010. Best Cleaners is now located there, though the DEC previously told The Spotlight Roxy Cleaners is being treated as the originator of the contamination.
A DEC investigation found elevated levels of a number of chemicals associated with dry cleaning in the soil, including tetrachloroethene, or PERC, in the groundwater. The area is served by public water. The DEC classified the area as a “class 2” superfund site that “represents a significant threat to public health or the environment.”
The DEC’s remediation plan includes removing and taking off site 340 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Afterwards, a chemical oxidation layer will be put down before clean soil is put back at the site.
The agency said any buildings at the site or neighboring buildings may need to have a sub-slab depressurization system installed to prevent vapors entering buildings from the groundwater. Such systems typically collect vapors from underneath a concrete floor and vent them outside.
In addition to comments collected at the upcoming public meeting, the DEC will be accepting written comments through March 24.