There was good news and bad news coming out of the latest community meeting on chemical contamination in Cook Street Village.
The good news was test results showed no further spread of the chemical perchloroethylene, or perc – a stain-removing substance believed by scientists to have originated from the site of a former dry cleaning operation at 325 Cook St.
The bad news is that four homeowners, three on Mackenzie Street and one on Oxford Street, and the owner of the commercial building at 325 Cook St. must now work with the Ministry of Environment on a remediation plan to clean up contaminated land on their properties.
"The good news is there is no immediate risk to the residents," said Jan Abbott, a scientist with Franz Environmental and project manager for the Cook Street project.
The goal of the latest round of testing, which included taking samples from underneath Mackenzie, Oxford, Chester, Linden and Chapman streets in September, was to determine how far into the neighbourhood the perc travelled.
Residents heard the extent of that delineation from Franz officials at an information meeting Nov. 25.
"The next steps are to have discussions with each owner and the ministry as to how they want to proceed (toward) obtaining a certificate of compliance," Abbott said, adding that includes a remediation plan for their properties.
Monitoring continues on the affected properties, she said, with a final investigative and risk assessment report likely completed by January or February.