Politics & Government

EPA Final Report: Proposed Strecker Forest Homes Site in Wildwood

Former Superfund area in Wildwood gets reassessed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency team. Are contaminants at levels that threaten human health? EPA will host open house Thursday evening. Read the final report.

A proposed home development subdivision on property in that used to be one of the worst Superfund sites in U.S. history is declared safe for human use and living for a second time, based on dust, soil, metal and water samples taken and reassessed recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 team.

Highly controversial issues surrounding a proposed custom home subdivision on 18.3 acres in Wildwood will come to a head Thursday evening when , as previously reported in Eureka-Wildwood Patch.

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The lengthy final EPA report for the Strecker Forest Development just became available. To read the technical EPA assessment and response, CLICK HERE.

Wildwood city representatives and residents had doubts for years regarding the overall safety of in what once was one of the most complicated cleanup sites related to dioxin in American history.

Find out what's happening in Eureka-Wildwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Questions that surfaced from a former Wildwood resident who said her son and his friends had developed rare health conditions and unusual cancers from playing in the same area led Wildwood city officials to halt construction of the homes. That happened after Wildwood resident Wesley Byrne had purchased the property specifically to build custom homes in what was at the time considered "an EPA-cleared area." It was also after he already had planning and zoning approvals from Wildwood city representatives to build.

Byrne and Wildwood representatives have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2008.

Three parcels of land comprise the proposed subdivision area:

  1. 165 Strecker Road (approximately 5 acres); known as the former Dozier property
  2. 173 Strecker Road (approximately 10 acres); known as the former Primm property
  3. 177 Strecker Road (approximately 3 acres); known as the former Schoessel property

EPA's recent study area also included a part of the Callahan property (former Superfund site where contaminated drum burial area was remediated in the early 1980s), which is located across Strecker Road to the south, at 210 Strecker Road.

One of the study's key findings was: "Analysis of samples from surface soil, subsurface soil, and ground water in the portion of the Strecker Forest parcel planned for residential development do not indicate concentrations of volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, or PCBs exceeding a level of concern for unrestricted residential use. This includes areas designated as the former Dozier and Primm residences, the 'western pond area,' the 'alleged haul road,' and the 'solid waste disposal area.'"

A second key finding was that "all metals analyzed in surface soils, subsurface soils, and groundwater samples collected from the Strecker Forest parcel, with the exception of total chromium, were below a level of concern for unrestricted residential use."

To receive more details and to ask questions of EPA officials, attend the EPA open house, which will be hosted Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Daniel Boone Branch of the St. Louis County Public Library, 300 Clarkson Rd., in Ellisville.

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