The city of Elkhart’s years-long effort to redevelop a contaminated former industrial site has reached another milestone.
The city-owned site at 1101 E. Beardsley Ave., next to the Greenleaf Health Campus, now just looks like a field of grass with a big cordoned off hole in the middle. Musical instruments maker Conn-Selmer once manufactured there, but in recent years the city has demolished the structures and removed contaminants with a $4 million state grant. They next hope a private developer will build single-family homes there.
The work so far has turned up heavy lead contamination in the soil. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management says nearby homes and groundwater are not endangered by the lead but it must be removed from the soil before homes can be built.
So the EPA has granted the city’s request to remove the lead-contaminated soil this spring. On Tuesday they’ll hold a 12:15 p.m. press conference at the site, where EPA Regional Administrator Anne Vogel, IDEM Commissioner Clint Woods, and Mayor Rod Roberson will discuss the project and take reporters’ questions.
