Testing of a section of the Tunungwant Creek that runs under the
Bradford Mall on East Main Street -ðan activity meant to bring the
property into compliance with Act 2 (the Pennsylvania Land
Recycling Act) – is continuing.
State Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Freda
Tarbell told The Era Monday that sampling and testing in the water
has been ongoing for about the last five years.
Tarbell explained that when the property owner learned a dry
cleaner had operated there at one time, company officials hired an
environmental consulting firm that determined there were chemical
contaminants in the soil due to the cleaner.
“They started to do some Phase I site assessment,” Tarbell said.
“What that means is they are monitoring wells drilled on site and
sampling to see what’s there.”
When that assessment revealed the contamination, a new
consulting firm was hired, she said, doing additional drilling to
determine the extent of the contamination there.
Tarbell went on to say that Act 2 is a voluntary program, not a
requirement of the DEP. Property owners typically do an
investigation to see what is on the property and then take whatever
steps are necessary to correct the situation.
“The attraction here,” she said, is that once the investigation
is done and remediation is complete, Act 2 “releases them (the
property owners) from future liability,” allowing them to sell the
property with “a clean bill of health, so to speak.”
Rumors that the mall will be sold are as persistent as ever,
though a sale or potential sale has not been confirmed through the
real estate agency handling the property. CentroWatt, an umbrella
company also comprised of the former Kramont Realty, is currently
overseeing the property.
The Foster Township Supervisors -ðRobert Slike Jr., Cary Kaber
and Chris Wolcott – all said after Monday’s regular meeting at the
municipal building that the mall had not been sold as far as they
knew.
“It would be nice, though,” Wolcott said.
None of the three were certain exactly who owned the mall. Kaber
disputed the suggestion it was owned by Bradford Properties LLC of
Mentor, Ohio, saying first that Bradford Properties LLC is based in
Pittsburgh, and second, that it owns The Shops at Foster Brook
(near Wal-Mart), not the mall.
