Public Meeting on $1.5 Million RB&W Clean-Up is Wednesday

The fate of the former RB&W property on Mogadore Road will be the subject of a public meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the

The meeting is being held to review public commments received about a Clean Ohio Fund Brownfield Revitalization grant request totaling $1,498,310 to address what is believed to be the cause of underground contaminants leaching into groundwater and now surface water at the 17.7-acre property.

The city has applied for the $1.5 million grant to finish brownfield remediation efforts there. The bulk of the grant, as much as $925,000, will pay to examine and fix a leaching point in an underground containment system covering about 2 acres at the southern end of the site.

If the grant money is approved, it will trigger a transfer of the property from owner Thomas & Betts Corp., of Memphis, TN, to the city for $1. Kent City Council voted earlier this summer to buy the land under that condition.

Meanwhile, the latest Ohio EPA report shows contaminants that were previsouly only present in groundwater have since migrated and tainted surface water, some of which has made its way into the Cuyahoga River.

Scroll down for Kent Patch's exclusive, comprehensive coverage of the issue.

• Kent Asks State for $1.5 Million to Finish RB&W Site Cleanup
• Owner: RB&W Containment System Has Failed
• Council Votes to Buy Former RB&W Site on Mogadore Road
• Former RB&W Site Closer to Clean, But Leaching Still a Concern
• Lamson & Sessions More Than Just Tainted Soil
• Shining a Light on One of Kent's Oldest Brownfields
• A Dirty History of Manufacturing at old Lamson and Sessions, RB&W Site
• Cleanup Continues at Former RB&W Site on Mogadore Road
• EPA: No Link Between Demolition, Contaminant Breach at RB&W Site
• Under VAP, Companies Oversee Own Chemical Cleanups
• EPA Concerned Former RB&W Site Leaching Contaminants Through Soil