Report: Materials on old Reid grounds aren't a public health threat
Jason Truitt
While the Richmond mayor's office moves forward with plans to tear down the buildings that make up the former Reid Hospital campus, Reid Health and state officials are working to determine what, if any, remediation is needed on the grounds.
In late 2015, Reid Health hired Environmental Resources Management, a United Kingdom-based firm with offices in Indianapolis, to develop and implement a plan for a third round of testing at various places around the three parcels that make up the former hospital property at 1401 Chester Blvd.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management signed off on that plan, and ERM presented its findings to IDEM in a report submitted in September.
Two previous rounds of testing at the site had indicated the presence of several different potentially hazardous materials, including arsenic, chromium, thallium, lead, Aroclor 1232, petroleum aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, lithium and radionuclides.
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Reid Health hired ERM to determine whether any of those materials existed in levels that would pose a risk to the public. According to ERM's report, none of the potentially hazardous materials met that threshold.
IDEM Public Information Officer Barry Sneed told the Palladium-Item on Thursday the agency recently asked ERM and Reid Health's attorney for more information and clarification on some points from the report before IDEM can make its own determination.
"IDEM is waiting for responses to its May 24, 2017, comments in order to reach any conclusions," Sneed wrote in an email.
Reid Health President/CEO Craig Kinyon said his organization remains committed to taking care of environmental issues found on the grounds of the former hospital should IDEM decide any such contamination was caused by Reid's activities.
"We continue our communications with IDEM to ultimately determine what, if any, remediation might be necessary," Kinyon said in a statement sent to the Palladium-Item.
"As we’ve said all along, if remediation is needed, we will take any responsibility for ground cleanup deemed necessary that relates to our years using the property before we sold it in 2006.
"Further, we have noted that Reid has no responsibility for the destruction within the building, which occurred several years after Reid no longer owned the property."
Reid Health operated a hospital on the site from 1904 to 2008 but hasn't had a hand in the management or ownership of the property since that time.
The land and buildings were sold to Whitewater Living Center LLC in 2006, which then sold the land to Rose City Development LLC in 2008. Rose City became Spring Grove Development LLC, owned by two Delaware investors, in 2009.
Spring Grove Development stopped paying property taxes owed on the land and structures in 2011. The group also stopped paying its fees to do business in Indiana and as of 2014, no longer was recognized by the Secretary of State's office as a registered company.
Wayne County officials still are trying to collect back tax money on the property, but under the limited liability company laws, the personal assets of investors cannot be sought for debts.
Over the years, the buildings have been salvaged for usable materials and thieves have rifled them for copper wire and any other materials that could be sold. In removing piping, vandals exposed and spread asbestos that had been contained in older sections of the hospital.
In 2014, an order by the Richmond Unsafe Building Commission cleared the way for the city to begin removing unsafe material from the former hospital campus. The biggest issues include asbestos and lead contamination.
There are three parcels that make up the campus, and the abandoned property has been offered unsuccessfully by the county at multiple tax sales.