Mount Prospect reaches deal over contaminated former dry cleaning site

Mount Prospect village board members passed an ordinance Tuesday that will free the owners of a former dry cleaning site with a history of environmental issues from further remediation obligations.

The property owners in return have agreed to indemnify the village from possible cleanup costs down the road.

The former site of Dun Rite Cleaners, 611 N. Main St., has been the focus of environmental remediation efforts since 2005, said Public Works Director Sean Dorsey, Those efforts have been completed, he added.

The contaminants of concern included tetrachloroethene and other volatile organic compounds.

"They're used in a wide range of chemicals from cleaning solvents to perfumes," Dorsey said. "They tend not to be toxic so much, but long-term exposure can cause health problems over time."

The only contamination still detected was on the site, near the source of the contamination in the dry cleaner building.

"There's no contamination that was identified off-site or in the public rights of way," Dorsey said.

The village board authorized the mayor to execute an environmental indemnity agreement with the property owners, 1 Building, LLC, that would give the village the ability to recover costs if it later finds contamination in the public right of way.

Trustee Peggy Pissarreck said she was concerned about a letter from the village attorney stating that the ordinance would allow contamination to remain in place.

But Dorsey said the village would not receive the protections provided by the indemnification without that letter.

"There really is no other evidence that the contamination plume has sifted off the property and in all likelihood, (with) the passage of time, the chemicals will continue to degrade," he said.