An overdue cleanup operation is headed for central Toledo — to be performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA said that it will move ahead with spending $1.8 million to remove remaining rubble and asbestos contamination from the former Champion Spark Plug factory in the 900 block of Upton Avenue.
Click here to view more Blade editorials
This was the second of two pieces of building-related news that could set the table for revitalization of central city Toledo. The other one is the apparent reprieve granted by the Catholic Diocese of Toledo of a planned demolition of historic St. Anthony Church at Nebraska and Junction avenues.
St. Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of lost things. What was lost in the central city — economic vitality — may be found again, with the preservation of his church, which is an architectural gem, and the clearing of a site that has been like an open sore in old Toledo.
Cleaned up, and with a bill of no-toxic contamination from the EPA, the location could eventually become attractive for new commercial, industrial, recreational, or residential use.
The 20-acre site has been on the EPA’s Superfund list for a long time. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) credited Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz’s diligence for finally getting EPA off the dime.
While Toledo can be grateful that government now sees fit to clean up this site, it’s disappointing that it took so long.
The toxic asbestos fibers on the grounds are are known to cause lung cancer and other respiratory problems. The EPA said in its release that it considers the cleanup effort a “time-critical action.”
Agency spokesman Francisco Arcaute said “asbestos co-mingled with building debris remained strewn over five acres of the former factory site after the buildings were razed in 2012.” According to him, the city of Toledo referred the site to EPA for cleanup in 2017.
Champion Spark Plug was one of a handful of businesses that made Toledo an industrial powerhouse in the mid-20th century. It was founded in Boston in 1907 by brothers Robert and Frank Stranahan and relocated to Toledo in 1910. The plant, of which only rubble remains now, opened in 1912. It closed for good in 1989. With the completion of a clean-up, that land can be returned to productive use.
First Published June 9, 2018, 9:15 p.m.