For decades, the hulking carburetor factory on North Grand Boulevard was an economic pillar in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
But the plant that employed 3,000 people at its peak is better known these days as a symbol of something else in recent years — urban blight.
Now, after years of complaints and pressure from neighbors and elected officials, the polluted 10-acre site next to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ may be on the verge of a rebirth.
The Environmental Protection Agency and ACF Industries LLC, a successor to the company that owned Carter Carburetor, have an to fund and implement a cleanup plan for much of the site, including the main Carter Building.
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U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Mayor Francis Slay and Region 7 EPA Administrator Karl Brooks are scheduled to discuss the plan and site’s future at a news conference on Monday.
The agreement with ACF, a St. Charles-based manufacturer of railcars and components, comes more than two years after EPA’s approval of a $27 million cleanup plan. A tenet of federal Superfund law requires the parties responsible for pollution to pay for the cleanup. But negotiating such agreements often takes years.
“These have been some very complex, challenging and at times delicate negotiations,†EPA spokesman Chris Whitley said.
The 144-page agreement with ACF is a major milestone toward removing an industrial eyesore.
The former carburetor plant near the old Sportsman’s Park was part of the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood going back to the late-1930s. But the business declined as automakers began to phase out carburetors and the factory finally shut its doors in 1984.
Today, the red-brick Carter Carburetor building is rotting. Windows are shattered. Weeds choke the asphalt parking lot along North Grand.
Contamination at the site was suspected in the late 1980s and the property was referred to the Superfund program in 1993.
Since then, and especially in recent years, neighbors have pleaded for the site to be cleaned up, arguing that it’s key to revitalizing the neighborhood.
“It’s been vacant since I’ve been here for 10 years,†said Tebron Graham, 37, who works at TB’s Barber and Beauty Salon across the street. “I’m tired of looking at it. I think it should be torn down.â€
As unsightly as the old plant is, what lies beneath is more concerning — 30,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Also present in the soil is trichloroethylene, or TCE, a toxic solvent used to clean and degrease carburetor components. The buildings also contain asbestos.
The EPA approved cleanup plans in 2011 that called for tearing down the main four-story manufacturing building and hauling away contaminated rubble.
TCE will be removed by inserting thermal probes deep into the ground and heating the soil to 635 degrees to vaporize contaminants. The vapors are captured by a vacuum and cleaned.
The same method, known as in-situ thermal desorption, was approved for removal of PCBs. But those plans were abandoned after environmental and neighborhood activists questioned whether it would produce dioxin-like compounds.
The recent agreement between EPA and ACF Industries calls for PCB-contaminated soil to be excavated and disposed of off-site.
Whitley, the EPA spokesman, said ACF was given the choice of how to remove PCB-laden soil and the company chose to dig it up because it was more economic.
The cleanup agreement with ACF lays out specific deadlines for the company to choose a contractor and submit work plans, but does not stipulate a deadline for work to be completed.
It also doesn’t cover the remediation of a structure on the southeast side of the property known as the Willco Plastics Building Area, which is owned by businessman Tom Kerr.
Whitley said there is not yet an agreement in place for cleanup of the Willco building.
Kerr couldn’t be reached for comment on Wednesday.
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Land Reutilization Authority, which owns part of the Carter Carburetor site, isn’t a responsible party and isn’t being asked to fund any part of the cleanup.
While there’s been unanimous consent among neighbors to see the Carter Carburetor site cleaned up, how it’s accomplished and the potential future of the property has been a subject of debate.
Some residents, including Gloria Townsend, 45, see historic value and potential to rehab the building and bring in new business.
“Get us some jobs,†she said. “The only problem I see is it’s vacant.â€
But many are adamant the structure be razed.
“Every day I go to work I look at that building,†said Jennifer Green, 39, as she stood as the bus stop in front of the former plant and peered through the metal fence. “I’m for tearing it down. I’m with that 100 percent.â€
Deshawn Stewart, 39, was reared in the neighborhood and has watched the plant decay year by year. He wants it torn down and the site redeveloped, perhaps as a sports complex.
“We don’t have anything to offer the kids,†he said. Beside the Boys & Girls Club, “there’s nothing else for the kids to do.â€