ELYRIA — There is a cloud of dust getting kicked up around the new Elyria High School and it’s not from residents overjoyed with the project.
Those living closest to the $74 million project have put up with heavy machinery, loud construction and debris for more than two years, but it’s the dust coming off the old school as it is being torn down that has many saying enough is enough.
“We get huge clouds of dust from across the street,” said Shannon Swabb of West Avenue. “We finished our porch last weekend. It dried Sunday. Monday it was caked with dust.”
At times the dust in the air and the debris on the road are so bad residents say they cannot enjoy their homes and yards.
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Alicia Rosenthal, who has lived on Fifth Street since 1974, said she has watched her rose bushes die this summer and had to put up with double the pool maintenance just to keep the pH in her in-ground pool balanced.
“I have a lovely, clean home, but this is starting to take a toll on our cars and everything,” she said.
Earlier this month, residents took their concerns to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
As a result, agency representatives visited the construction site to investigate concerns about air quality and look into debris possibly going into storm drains near the construction site.
Mike Settles, spokesman for the Ohio EPA, said it will be a number of days before he knows if the concerns warrant intervention.
“We want to make sure the roads remain clean and the company is using a watering truck to keep the dust down,” Settles said.
Amy Higgins, district spokeswoman, said school officials are aware of residents’ concerns.
According to Higgins, Regency Construction, the project manager, addresses every concern as it comes up, often going beyond their duty.
Recently, tree limbs were knocked down around the project during a storm and construction crews did the cleanup, Higgins said. In addition, the Ohio EPA inspector wanted additional safeguards around storm drains to keep debris out and Higgins said Regency immediately put additional fencing in place.
“We are not negating the residents’ concerns,” she said. “We are addressing them as they come up and will continue to do that until the project comes to completion. We hope residents keep in mind that the site is an active construction site and there is a lot of debris being removed daily. A portion of a building is being demolished. Once debris is removed and the site is cleared, those issues will become less of an issue.”
Matt Swabb, Shannon’s husband, said he can’t believe Regency and the district believe they are doing everything that can be done.
“It is an enormous amount of dirt they are leaving behind in the streets, and the dust is just incredible,” he said. “I just need to know if they truly approve of how everything is running because I can’t believe they do. They need to start doing the neighborly thing, the right thing. Essentially, they should answer the question of is the mess they leave around daily for the neighborhood to deal with is acceptable.”
Former Elyria City Councilman Kevin Krischer said he is disappointed in the way the school board is responding to residents. It’s frustrating, he said.
“The school board says they can’t do anything because they don’t have ownership, but that project is being done with taxpayer dollars and Regency is a for-profit company that doesn’t care about how our money is being spent,” he said.
Krischer said his frustrations turned to anger recently when we watched the city send a street sweeper down Fifth Street, where his home is located, only to see the street dirty again.
“The city just swept the street two weeks ago, and there is dirt and stone all over the streets,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.
