Cleaning a Dry Cleaner

A Roadmap to Remediation for Richland

Project Summary

Community: Richland Center, Wisconsin
Technical Assistance: Remediation Roadmap
Former Use: Dry-Cleaner
Future Use: Economic Asset

The former Weber's Dry Cleaners sits in the southern
portion of Richland Center, Wisconsin near the main
street of downtown. The property is abandoned and
likely contaminated with dry cleaning solvents from
previous operations. Because of this contamination,
there are also vapor intrusion concerns in the property
and in the buildings nearby.

Multiple planning efforts, such as the comprehensive
plan for 2022-2032, identified key goals for the city,
including the need for Richland Center to attract visitors
and young people through restoring vitality to the
downtown and creating an active area for residents and
visitors to live, work, and play. Richland Center
continues to look for opportunities for economic
development in the city and sees the former dry cleaner
property as a key part of community investment.

The Community's Challenge

Cleaning up the former Weber's Dry Cleaners would
have multiple positive impacts including protecting
human health from dry cleaning contaminants and
activating the space for community use. However, due
to the nature and extent of potential contamination,
Richland needed a plan on how to remediate this
complex site.

EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance
In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Land Revitalization Program provided contractor
technical assistance to develop a roadmap to
remediation for the former Weber's Dry Cleaners
property. This assistance occurred in conjunction with a

SEPA

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

Wisconsin

market assessment completed of the Ferguson
properties downtown.

The roadmap identified five key steps and two ongoing
actions for brownfield remediation in Richland Center.
Key steps included site investigation, selecting cleanup
option, designing and implementing cleanup, site
closure, then finally constructing the revitalized
property. The process would be best supported by
conducting ongoing public participation and searching
funding and financing avenues at every step of the
project.

The roadmap to remediation will guide the process
for the former Weber's Dry Cleaners site cleanup and
reuse as well as serving as a best practices guide for
other potentially contaminated sites around the Region.
The roadmap ensures that site cleanup and reuse
decisions will be undertaken with an effective vision
considering the history, contamination potential, and
environmental liability of the site.

Ongoing Actions:

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Steps to Redevelopment in the Roadmap

For more information, contact Ashley Green, EPA
Region 5 Brownfields Program, at

areen.ashlev@epa.gov.

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization
560-F-23-325

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