Demolition debris from the old Philo High School will no longer be dumped into a ravine on Market Street after a few property owners on the street expressed concern to the company managing the school construction project.

Tim St. Clair learned that dump trucks were hauling demolition debris from the old Philo High School onto a property neighboring his.

"I bought a piece of property on Market Street and I felt that (the dumping) was going to cause me economic problems. Nobody would want to rent or live in front of a landfill," St. Clair said.

Workers with Dore and Associates Contracting Inc., based in Bay City, Mich., began tearing down the old Philo High School on Feb. 20 and are scheduled to be finished with the job on April 1. The company was awarded the 45-day contract, which included demolishing the old building, removing all debris and reclaiming the land on which the former Broad Street school sat for 80 years.

The new Philo High School opened last November on Millers Lane.
St. Clair attended Thursday's regularly scheduled Franklin Local Schools Board meeting with two other property owners in the area to air his concerns to the board. He also contacted Kevin Klee, the project manager for Regency Construction Service Inc., who was hired by the Ohio Schools Facility Commission to oversee the entire Philo High School project.

"I think it's all been resolved," St. Clair said. "I talked to (Klee) and he said there won't be any more dumping (at the Market Street site). The rest of (the debris) will be going to Sidwell (Materials landfill site)."

Randy Ziemer, who works for Sidwell, said their construction and demolition debris containers were on site as soon as the school was being demolished and that Sidwell hauled the demolition debris to its EPA-approved landfill on Limestone Valley Road as soon as the boxes were filled. He said Sidwell's Limestone Valley Road site is the county's only EPA-approved construction and debris landfill site.

Ziemer wanted to make sure the community knew that Sidwell did not dump any debris at the Market Street site.

Klee said the Dore and Associates representative with whom he spoke was not happy after being notified that there could be no more dumping behind the old school's site, even if the property owner approved it.

"Their job is to demolish (the old building) haul it off, remove it from the property...and that debris does become the property of Dore and Associates. But because it's being paid for by the OSFC, that debris must be dumped in an EPA-approved landfill site," Klee said. "Everybody wants fill in their back yard, I want fill in my back yard. But with this, it has to be EPA-approved. They are fighting me on this."