The old American Carco site sits on 1.5 acres of land in what is presently zoned I-2, General Industrial, in Harrison Township.  The site is located less than 800 feet west of the City of Dayton’s Miami Well Field and is within the one-year time of travel.  The plating industry practice in former years included chrome plating by cathodic electrodeposition to metal for car bumpers and machine parts. 

Since 1993, Harrison Township has worked with the City of Dayton, Public Health: Dayton & Montgomery County, the Ohio EPA and the Source Water Fund Board to work towards remediating the contamination found at the American Carco site.  Several steps have been taken in the past fifteen years towards the ultimate goal of a clean, reusable site.  However many things have prevented the final goal from coming to fruition, the biggest obstacle being the existing structures.

The structures on site prevent further remediation efforts due to the dilapidated state of said structures.  The roof of the structures is collapsing and the structural integrity of the buildings is poor at best.  In order to move forward with making this a clean, reusable site, the buildings must be razed to ground level.

After a year of intense meetings and discussions with multiple jurisdictions, including Public Health, Ohio EPA, City of Dayton Water Department as well as Weston Environmental Solutions, Harrison Township compiled a complete plan of action for moving forward at the old American Caro site, located at 2800 Ontario Avenue.  The project plan was broken into three sections, for the purpose of identifying funding needs and resulted in the following description: (1) The goal of the ultimate demolition of the structures at the American Carco site for the purpose of further remediation efforts to remove the heavy metals and other contaminants that continue to be present at the site. (2) Applying for funding to extend our existing contract with Weston Solutions, Inc. to assist the township in its efforts to bring the American Carco case to a close with the Ohio EPA and (3) Finally, bringing the property under RCRA closure with the Ohio EPA.  The total amount of funding which was requested was $779,180.  In November of 2009, the Wellfield Fund Board awarded the township a grant for $779,180.  Harrison Township also applied for and was awarded an additional $80,000 CDBG grant from Montgomery County in the Spring of 2010, which will also be applied towards the American Carco Project. 

The township and Weston Solutions began discussions with the Ohio EPA in October, 2010, in order to formulate the final RCRA Closure plan for the American Carco property.  In the middle of July, township staff received authorization from the OEPA to move forward with our submitted RCRA Closure plan.  With the implementation of the RCRA Closure, Harrison Township has also applied for funding to do a Phase II environmental study at the site through the Clean Ohio Fund. 

The demolition project went out to bid for a second time in the beginning of May, 2011.  The bid opening was June 2, 2011. The Board of Trustees awarded the contract for the demolition project on July 5, 2011 to Steve Rauch Demolition and Wrecking.  Environmental remediation started at the site in the middle of August and demolition activity began in October.  By early November the demolition portion of this project was completed along with bringing the property under RCRA Closure status.  Following up with the demolition, Harrison Township along with the Wellfield Fund Board decided to scope several monitoring wells which were newly discovered on the site during demolition activity.  Currently we are studying the best way to proceed in regards to these wells.

At the end of October, Harrison Township was awarded an almost $300,000 Clean Ohio grant to conduct a Phase II environmental study at the former Carco site.  This project should be underway at the beginning of 2012.  This study will provide our region with a clear picture in regards to the additional remediation needed to be conducted at the Carco location in order to make it a clean reusable site.