Subcontractor for construction of Ohio high school illegally dumps C&D debris

According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), construction and demolition (C&D) debris from Dover High School was illegally dumped in a rural residential area with permission from private property’s owner in June and July.

The waste material from the $46.2 million project, completed earlier this year, should have gone to a licensed landfill, the Times-Reporter reports.

Instead, Mr. Excavator, Kirtland, Ohio, a subcontractor hired by the project’s construction manager, Hammond Construction, Canton, Ohio, made a deal with the owner of the 48-acre parcel at 4744 Mount Pleasant Road NW.

The subcontractor put approximately 9,000 cubic yards of C&D debris and other unauthorized material on the property, Ohio EPA spokesman Anthony Chenault said.

The material was placed in an area about 1,700 feet long and about 20 feet wide to make a driveway, according to a remedial action plan from Partners Environmental Consulting Inc. of Solon, Ohio, which Mr. Excavator hired to prepare and oversee the cleanup project.

Remediation on the site began Sept. 30, Chenault said.

The health department cited Mr. Excavator; Petty Group, Garfield Heights, Ohio; and property owner Bonnie Mason on July 24 for the illegal dumping. Its notice about the violation said that clean hard fill was intermingled with construction and demolition debris such as scrap metal, electrical wiring, plastic conduit, plumbing, foam and other material. The letter from sanitarian Michael Kopko said the debris had to be removed from the site and taken to a licensed C&D landfill.

The cleanup plan requires Mr. Excavator to dig up the dumped material and pile it at 100-foot intervals. The company is to examine each pile and remove any material not meeting the definition of clean hard fill.

The Dover City Schools did not authorize Mr. Excavator’s hauling or disposing of construction debris to any place other than an approved disposal facility, said Christian Williams, the district's Cleveland-based attorney.

"Once it became aware of the issue, Dover schools promptly cooperated with the Ohio EPA in working with Hammond to resolve the matter. Dover is committed to ensuring that all of its contractors and subcontractors safely and lawfully fulfill their construction duties relative to the high school construction project," Williams said in a prepared statement.