Toxic site near NW Jacksonville elementary school

Hundreds in NW Jacksonville living near polluted site, EPA says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds of people in northwest Jacksonville are living near one of the most polluted sites in America, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The site is also near an elementary school.

The health department believes arsenic is still in the soil, but said residents are safe.

It started back in 1980 at a wood-treating site called Fairfax Street Wood Treaters. It used arsenic to treat wood for more than 30 years.

The city has been working with residents for years, updating them on these reports as these studies are conducted. The health department plans to hold a meeting to hear the residents' concerns, because people living there feel they've been ignored.

Carmen Chatfield has lived across the street from the site for the last 14 years. And for the past three years, she said, the city has done little to ensure the health of her neighbors and herself.

"My concern is disease, cancer. A lot of cancer in this neighborhood," she said.

In 2011 the EPA began cleaning, removing 77,000 gallons of abandoned wood treatment chemicals. A new draft report was sent to Chatfield, along with 750 more residents in this area, saying the site is still too polluted for people to live on.

The report also said to not eat fish caught in Moncrief Creek because it receives run-off from the site.

"When EPA came and tested the soil, they said ours was contaminated but not enough to be dangerous, and I think contamination is contamination," said Chatfield.

It's contamination that Chatfield believes the city is only acknowledging in select places nearby. Besides hundreds of residents, Tolbert Elementary School sits just a few yards behind the site.

"Down the street at the school, they changed the soil out. We're closer than they are. So how are they more contaminated than us and our soil hasn't been changed out?" she said.

John Dent is now retired but has lived just yards from the plant since 1977. He's been to several meetings about the contamination and said his concerns are falling on deaf ears. He even showed News4Jax what he believes to be a direct effect from arsenic drainage.

"They keep giving us the runaround about what they're going to do with the raggedy building," said Dent.

The city told residents their groundwater and soil are not likely to cause illness, but Dent said he still has some major concerns that he will address in a meeting held by the department of health later this month.

"I'm going to the meeting. Ain't no telling what I'm going to say, but I know one thing. I know they're not telling us the truth," he said.

The next health department meeting will take place from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Dallas Graham Public Library on Myrtle Avenue.


About the Authors:

Emmy-nominated journalist Kristin Cason joined the News 6 team in June 2016.