*>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
For more information
You can contact these EPA team
members for questions, comments
or more information about the
cleanup at the W.C. Reed Playfield
site:
For general questions:
Ginny Narsete
EPA Community Involvement
Coordinator
312-886-4359
narsete. virginiaV/.cpa. gov
For technical questions:
JJ Justice
EPA On-Scene Coordinator
440-250-1744
justice .i ames@epa. gov
EPA toll-free: 800-621-8431, 9:30
a.m. - 5:30 p.m., weekdays
Website:
http://www.epa.gov/region5/cleanup
/wcreed/index.html
Administrative Record
Repository:
Cleveland Public Library -
Brooklyn Branch
3706 Pearl Rd
Cleveland, OH 44109
EPA Chicago Office address:
EPA Region 5
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
EPA Westlake, Ohio, Office
address:
25063 Center Ridge Road
Westlake, OH 44145
EPA Plans Cleanup Project at
Popular Park
W.C. Reed Playfields Site
Cleveland, Ohio	August 2013
In spring of 2014, EPA plans to begin a cleanup at W.C. Reed Playfields, a
12- acre Cleveland City park located in a residential area at the intersection
of West 15th Street and Denison Avenue. The City should be able to
reopen the park once the approximately three month cleanup is completed.
EPA will clean up the site by installing a barrier over the existing
contaminated soil and then cover the barrier, made of a semi-porous fabric,
with two feet of clean fill dirt. These actions will protect park users from
coming in direct contact with contaminants in the soil. In addition, EPA
w ill be sampling yards adjacent to the park to check for the presence of
contaminants. EPA will also be conducting real-time air monitoring and
collecting air samples throughout the course of the cleanup to ensure the
safety of workers and the surrounding community.
In U.S. EPA terms, the cleanup is called a "time-critical removal action"
because the contamination in park soil poses an imminent health threat to
people playing or working at the location. In addition, if not addressed,
environmental conditions such as high winds and heavy rains could cause
the pollution to move off-from the park into nearby residential
neighborhoods. The Agency is conducting the cleanup project under the
emergency authority provided in federal law.1 The cleanup is expected to
cost approximately $3 million dollars.
Background
W.C. Reed Playfields is a 12- acre Cleveland City park located in a
residential area at the intersection of West 15lh Street and Denison Avenue.
The WM Reed
Playfield has been
closed since last
December when
soil sampling
revealed the
presence of
elevated levels
ofPAHs. U.S. EPA
plans a cleanup
project this
summer.
'EPA conducts emergency cleanups under the authority' of Section 104(a)(1) of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of1980 (CERCLA
better known as the Superfund law) and 42 USC 9604(a)(1).

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The park is bordered to the east and west by residential
properties, to the south by senior housing and an
elementary school and to the north by a cemetery. It's
heavily used for youth and adult sports, and by the
school for recess. The facility contains tennis and
basketball courts, baseball and softball diamonds and
open grass fields for other recreational activities.
The city closed the park in December 2012 after soil
tests found high levels of petroleum-based chemicals
called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs.
Sampling has shown that the contamination is located
in the surface soil. Cleveland officials contacted EPA
for assistance with the cleanup and have been working
with EPA on a cleanup plan to address the
contamination.
After closing the park, the City erected a fence but there
are indications people are still using the park. EPA was
asked to present information about the tentative cleanup
plan in at a community meeting in March. This meeting
drew heavy interest from residents who expressed
concerns about health effects from the pollution and the
length of time the popular playfields would remain
closed. Additionally, concerns were raised at that time
about plans to remove many of the park's trees during
the cleanup.
U.S. EPA will spend approximately $3 million this fall and next spring on an emergency cleanup project
to contain hazardous chemicals located just below the surface of the W.C. Reed Playfields. Despite a
fence around the site, there are indications people are still using the park.
2

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