EPA OKs gas plan for City View

GARFIELD HTS.The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency OK'd a plan to control and extract methane gas from the City View shopping center here.

Approval is part of the out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit the EPA filed in July against developers, including McGill Property Group, but settled in December.

EPA OK'd the "active" gas-extracting method Monday, saying McGill has 30 days to begin the work, an EPA spokesman said.

Besides the City View site, work also includes what's called the Northeast Mound, located near the Get-Go service station, on the east side of the center, near Antenucci Boulevard. A trench is to be dug.

The overall plan includes two systems, one for the mound area and a second "main facility system" for the remainder of the site. Work will include drilling.

Work will be financed by $515,000 kept in an account previously required of McGill by the EPA, the EPA spokesman said.

Plans are to follow terms of the court-ordered settlement, of which not only McGill but also City View LLC and the city were defendants. City View LLC has since failed to pay an $80 million loan on time, triggering a federal court to name a receiver to oversee assets City View LLC pledged to its lender.

McGill had sold much of the center to City View LLC, of Monsey, N.Y., after starting the project in 2005. The first store opened in February 2006. Since then, several stores left, including the anchor Wal-Mart.

To settle the lawsuit, McGill agreed to put in an extraction system as well as pay $1.3 million in civil fines.

The plan includes gas probes plus ways to control leaking of liquid wastes on the west side of the former landfills.

Approval of the plan by the EPA followed an April 7 meeting here among developers, EPA Director Chris Korleski, the court-appointed receiver and Mayor Thomas Longo....