Settlement reached on HPI Products property
By Chris Fortune
A recent settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency will help clear the way for the city of St. Joseph to redevelop a Downtown building.
The Midwest region of the EPA entered into a settlement agreement on Wednesday with the city of St. Joseph to move forward with the cleanup and demolition of a Downtown HPI Products building, according to an EPA news release.
By entering into the agreement, the EPA and Department of Justice agree to not sue the city of St. Joseph. As a result of the agreement, the city will remove and dispose of the chemicals at 408 S. Eighth St., near the St. Joseph Fire Department headquarters.
The plan is to demolish the building and utilize the space as a parking lot to coincide with future expansion plans for fire headquarters.
“That serves as a remedy for the EPA to ensure protection of human health and environment,” said Brittany Barrientos, a partner with Stinson LLP, a law firm in Kansas City. “It’s really a mutually beneficial situation.”
Barrientos has worked to help the city figure out if they could acquire the 408 S. Eighth St. property in a way that protected the city and provided a plan the EPA was comfortable with to protect human and environmental health.
The agreement is subject to a public comment period, which ends Sept. 6, and the agreement between the city and the EPA will not be final until that period is complete.
Barrientos said Stinson LLP has assisted the city with environmental issues related to HPI for years.
“Our hope is that this gets through,” Barrientos said. “The city and EPA have been working on this agreement and forging a path forward for quite some time.”
