The Ried Cleaners Site (the Site) is located at 218 Main Street in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts (MA) and is identified on Town of Great Barrington Tax Assessor’s Map number (No.) 14 as Lot No. 202. The geographical coordinates from the approximate center of the property are 42° 11’ 47.9” north latitude and 73° 21’ 41.2” west longitude.
The Site, occupying approximately 0.29 acres is in historic downtown commercial area and is bordered to the north by a savings bank and Rosseter Street; to the west by residential and commercial properties; to the south by a United States Postal Service (USPS) facility and commercial properties; and to the east by Main Street.
A dry-cleaning and laundromat business operated on the Site for approximately 54 years until it ceased operations in 2006. A one-story building, built in 1930, located in the southeast corner is approximately 7,890 square feet and is now vacant and boarded up. A second one-story building constructed in 1900 in the southwest portion of the property totaled 1,056 square feet; it was demolished in 2008. Currently, in addition to the vacant boarded up building, the remainder of the Site is mostly paved and covered with crushed gravel and sand and is occasionally used for overflow parking by the neighboring bank.
Within a half mile radius of the Site the daytime population is 2,367 and the sensitive receptors include multiple residences, churches, the post office, a neighboring bank, the public library, a masonic lodge, businesses and the Housatonic River.
Based on information in EPA’s EJSCREEN environmental justice screening tool, zero out of 11 Environmental Justice Indexes for the area within a one-mile radius of the Site exceed the 80th percentile on a national basis.
The PA/SI sampling event has documented the presence of chlorinated volatile organic compounds, including PCE, at levels exceeding the MCP-S2 Standard indicating that a release of chlorinated contaminants to the environment has occurred.
