Investigating Edgewater Dunes’ Toxic Rumors
An Ausco building stands where EWD now resides.
In 1999, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality provided St. Joseph developers with $1 million for site clean-up. Now, many SJHS students can call this development their home. Built on sand-littered concrete slabs and residual industry foundations, our beautiful Edgewater Dunes raises questions about safety when considering its past.
Mr. Jeff Bartoszek headed the design and construction of the subdivision at the turn of the century.
“Prior to the development, the entire Edgewater area was the Ausco site. When I got involved, the buildings had been demolished and the contamination remediated. The soil was pretty much all clean beach dune sand, but there were a few pockets of black foundry sand or concrete slabs.”
After building and living in Edgewater Dunes for 15 years, Mr. Bartoszek is aware of safety concerns and rumors about contamination. However, he maintains that all precautionary measures were taken in keeping all EWD residences toxin-free. He grew healthy plants, having to amend the topsoil—not because of contamination—but the sand’s permeability did not provide for adequate water retention.
However, Mr. Bartoszeck does not fail to acknowledge the plot’s messy past.
“There was a sand mound present that law enforcement used for when they had weapons training, so there was some lead from the slugs that needed to be cleaned up on the EWD site,” he recalls from his time working.
Though Mr. Bartoszeck was in charge of the engineering of Edgewater Dunes, the environmental side of the project had already been taken care of by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
According to homefacts.com, the Ausco site “is currently registered as an Archived superfund site by the EPA and does not require any clean up action or further investigation at this time.”
However, the e-book Reclaiming Brownfields: A Comparative Analysis of Adaptive Reuse of Contaminated Properties edited by Richard C. Hula, Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, and Laura A. Reese, provides different information on the department that supervised the EWD development.
“The book [A Comparitive Analysis of Adaptive Reuse of Contaminated Properties] criticizes the lack of incentive for developers to practice “green” habits for their land.”
“MDEQ has no legislative mandate and only very limited capacity to follow up on the actual redevelopment of brownfield redevelopment projects,” is stated in the chapter Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Concerns.
This raises concerns of lack of supervision of the Edgewater Dunes project. Without much outside guidance and regulation, those in charge had the potential to not cover all their bases. The book criticizes the lack of incentive for developers to practice “green” habits for their land.
However, as the book clarifies, Edgewater has its own reasons for its unideal systems. Creating proper storm water management systems, which helps prevent run-off, would be nearly impossible with the ground’s porous surfaces.
Some concerns about toxicity also arise when questioning the pond at the center of Edgewater Dunes. The pond was pre-existing, and developers used the water feature to enhance the community scenery.
While some people still fish in the pond, a majority of the community members can agree that the pond is “gross,” not going much closer than the safety of the gazebo. Contradicting this mindset, a Herald Palladium article announcing the completion of the Edgewater Dunes project in 1999 features an interview with an Upton Middle Schooler who was “wading in the pond behind her house” in the Edgewater Dune development.
In another 1999 Herald Palladium article, Lorraine Thomas, project manager with the MDEQ, is quoted as saying “there will remain contaminants throughout the property that exceed drinking water quality standards.”
However, this does not affect EWD residents’ drinking water, as their water comes from the city rather than wells.
For some families, the concerns of Edgewater’s toxicity stems further than an icky pond. Kennedy Yeager, 11, shared her family’s experience living in Edgewater.
“A lot of people in Edgewater have cancer, my mom being one of them,” Kennedy explained. “[her] genetic test was negative and the doctors didn’t know where it came from, and that’s happened to multiple people in Edgewater.”
While attempting to resolve the question of what caused the cancer, Kennedy heard a story from her friend that a realtor was showing her family a house in the area, but strongly advised against moving into Edgewater Dunes.
“I came to her with the idea that it could be Edgewater,” she recalls.
“The numbers are so disproportionate, getting [cancer] in Edgewater compared to the rest of St. Joe,” she said when discussing her mom’s research on the idea.
Madison Jackson, 11, also heard about the cancer rumors, and shared that she knows of 12 cases of breast cancer between Ridgeway—the street right across from Edgewater—and Edgewater.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether the development is still hazardous. There has been little research done on the potentially lingering toxins on the site. Whether it is because it is not a concern, or because it is a wealthy area that would be strongly affected by this hypothetical bad publicity, is uncertain.