On April 11, 2017, EPA Region 1 signed an agreement with the current owners or operators of the former United Shoe Machinery Facility in Beverly, MA requiring the performance of additional environmental studies. This facility is currently known as the Cummings Center, a large scale commercial and residential redevelopment including medical offices, stores, restaurants, a supermarket, a school and a daycare facility.
The settling parties, New Horizons Beverly, Inc., Beverly Commerce Park, LLP and Cummings Properties, LLC, are the current owners or operators of the Cummings Center. After the allowed uses of the redevelopment changed to allow for schools, daycare facilities, and residential uses, EPA performed a review of previous cleanup work performed and requested additional confirmatory investigation. Under this settlement, the settling parties will perform the following additional investigations under EPA supervision: a vapor intrusion study to evaluate the potential for hazardous air emissions in discrete locations; a study of historic underground storage tanks to confirm that all formerly used tanks have been removed or properly addressed; an evaluation of a discrete location to determine whether residual PCB-contamination may be present; an evaluation of capped areas to determine that all requirements for these areas continue to be met; and an ecological evaluation of certain ponds, known as the Shoe Ponds, to determine whether there are any risks to fish or other