The Erie County Redevelopment Authority is spearheading the environmental cleanup of the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property.The cleanup could be completed by the end of the year, with more than $1 million spent so far.Perseus House Charter School of Excellence has a purchase option agreement for the property, contingent upon the cleanup.The school plans to use the site for an expansion, including a gymnasium, athletic fields, and other amenities.
The multimillion-dollar environmental cleanup and demolition of the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property near East 16th and French streets continues to move forward.
The Erie County Redevelopment Authority is spearheading efforts to complete a full remediation of the property under the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Act 2 program, which governs environmental cleanup of former industrial sites.
More than $1 million has been spent at the site thus far.
Tina Mengine, the county Redevelopment Authority’s executive director, said the cleanup/environmental hopes the work will be done by the end of the year.
“I think we’re at the last steps we need to do…. The remediation and testing pieces,” Mengine said. “We’ve been working pretty much nonstop, as weather allows, to keep us moving.”
The 4-acre former Quin-T complex, in the 100 block of East 16th Street, is vacant industrial site where hazardous/toxic material sat abandoned for decades.
The Erie Times-News reported in July 2023 that tons of potentially dangerous materials were left inside both the dilapidated, unsecured Quin-T site and another vacant industrial property the county Redevelopment Authority owns, the former Erie Malleable Iron site at 603 W. 12th St.
Materials left behind at the properties included asbestos and chemicals or substances that have been linked to various cancers.
The Times-News also reported, in December 2023, that soil and groundwater testing have also confirmed that portions of the property are contaminated with various potentially-harmful chemicals, including arsenic and lead.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 awarded a $5 million cleanup grant to the Enterprise Development Center of Erie County, an affiliate of the county Redevelopment Authority, for continued environmental remediation at both the Quin-T and EMI sites.
DEP spokesman Tom Decker said the county Redevelopment Authority will submit a required, detailed cleanup report to the department “that demonstrates the attainment of the statewide health standard” when work at the Quin-T property is finished.
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Here is a breakdown of where the Quin-T site work stands thus far, and what’s next for the property.
Scope of work
Even though demolition work and environmental remediation, including the removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials, began at the Quin-T property in April 2021, other significant site work has taken place since July.
According to information provided by Ti Sumner, the county Redevelopment Authority’s vice president of grants & brownfield specialist, that work includes:
The installation of perimeter fencing at the property.Excavation of multiple “test pits” at the site to help identify existing basements/underground storage areas there. “Locating basement peripheries and identifying remaining basement contents remains an ongoing process,” according to Redevelopment Authority data.The removal of an additional 3,906 tons of debris, including concrete rebar, timber and other materials. According to Redevelopment Authority documents, “buried timber decays over time and creates the potential for sinkhole formation. After multiple property fires in the mid-2010’s, the city collapsed most of the property’s buildings into the existing basements, leaving behind (hundreds) of square feet of buried demolition debris and rubble” including timber.The demolition and removal of a building at the east side of the property.Breaking up roughly 5,000 cubic yards of concrete ceiling at a covered basement on the property.What comes next?
Sumner said the county Redevelopment Authority soon plans to use some of its federal remediation funds to hire what’s known as a Qualified Environmental Professional — an environmental science expert with experience working on the remediation of industrial properties —as it moves forward with the cleanup.
Further, as many as six additional rounds of soil and groundwater testing will be conducted at the property; two have been completed thus far, Sumner said.
The additional testing is important “to ensure that we removed and/or stored identified contaminants,” Sumner said.
After the site is cleared of debris, tons of new “clean fill,” which is a mixture of non-contaminated soil, rock, gravel, and other natural materials, will be used to fill in the site, including the open basement areas, Sumner said.
When those new layers of clean fill are added at the property, “we will only plant grass as an erosion deterrent. Landscaping will be the responsibility of the new owners,” Sumner said.
Local charter school eyes property for expansion
The Redevelopment Authority has entered into a $142,683 purchase option agreement with Erie’s Perseus House Charter School of Excellence for the Quin-T property for an expansion of its campus and programs, including a gymnasium, event space, outdoor soccer and athletic fields, an outdoor kitchen and other amenities.
The school, headquartered at 1511 Peach St., is near the Quin-T site.
Previous coveerage:What are Perseus House Charter School’s plans for vacant Quin-T property in east Erie?
That purchase, though, is contingent upon a full state-sanctioned environmental cleanup at the property.
Renee Gordon, the school’s chief administrative offer, recently told the Times-News that the school will share more details about the project if/when the property transaction is finalized.
In a previous interview, Gordon told the newspaper that the school has conducted a feasibility study regarding the project and that public grants, bank financing and a private fundraising campaign are all being considered as potential funding sources for the project.
She added that both charter school students/faculty and the community would have access to the new facilities.
Both the Quin-T and EMI sites are located in state-designated Environmental Justice areas, defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as any census tract where 20% or more of the residents live at or below the federal poverty line or where 30% of the population identifies as a non-white minority.
“These brownfields are challenging to say the least,” Mengine said. “I’m happy we’re nearing the finish line at Quin-T. The community deserves a clean site and one that becomes productive and beneficial to everybody.”
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.