State of Siemens' site angers Batavia
Batavia officials are increasingly irate with Siemens Real Estate Americas about the condition of its former factory site at Van Nortwick and McKee Street.
A chain-link fence surrounds most of the property, and foundations and parking lots remain more than five years after the buildings were demolished.
The city filed an ordinance-violation case against the company in June after trying to get Siemens to comply via code-violation hearings held before a city adjudicator.
"Our intention is to ask the court to impose daily fines. That is something that should have been done a long time ago," said Scott Buening, the city's community development director. "We tried to work with them the best that we can."
Siemens was charged with violating two city codes: failure to remove foundations after demolition and failure to restore the property. The next court date is Nov. 25.
Jamie Richter, head of the location management unit for Siemens Real Estate Americas, would not comment on the matter Wednesday, citing the litigation.
The demolition permit required grass to be planted.
It's not the first time city officials have complained of the Siemens site. The buildings sat vacant for three years before demolition, during which time sprinklers and other fire-suppression systems broke and were not repaired. Officials were afraid a fire would break out in the complex and spread to adjacent properties.
After the demolition, Siemens had to remove trichloroethylene from soil on the site. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency notified it in July 2013 no further remediation was required.
Buening said Siemens is now saying that the contamination is more extensive. They also told him that they preferred to wait until they sold the property to take care of demolition of the foundations.
"It looks like a bomb has gone off in a neighborhood that is very close to a school," said Alderman Kyle Hohmann. "The residents have had enough of it. I think that is time that Siemens is a good, responsible neighbor and cleans up their mess."
He also complained that Richter has not replied to his emails, and "rarely" responds to city workers. No Siemens representative showed up at the first court date, according to Kane County court records.
Buening said Siemens has agreed to remove the asphalt parking lot on Van Nortwick, and to keep an asphalt parking lot on the north side of McKee. That small parking lot is often used by visitors to H.C. Storm Elementary School, a half-block north of the Siemens site.