PENDELTON ST.
The Rosen Brothers Scrap Yard site covers approximately 20 acres adjacent to a residential/commercial area in the City of Cortland. An abandoned industrial facility formerly owned by Wickwire Brothers, Inc., the facility manufactured wire screens, nails, and assorted wire products and allegedly disposed of industrial waste on the site. For decades, a portion of the eastern half of the Wickwire property was used as a scrap yard, supplying scrap metal to be used by the Wickwire steel mill. The facility was abandoned around 1970. Demolition of the western half of the property was completed by Rosen Brothers in 1972. In exchange for this work, Rosen Brothers was granted title to the eastern half. From 1972 to 1981 the site was operated as a scrap-yard, automobile-crushing, and scrap-metal-processing facility. Municipal waste, industrial waste, construction waste, timber, and drums were allegedly disposed of on site, including in a former cooling-water pond approximately 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 15 to 20 feet deep. Drums, their contents unknown, were routinely crushed on-site, the contents spilling onto the ground surface. The site was used to stage large quantities of abandoned vehicles, appliances, steel tanks, drums, fuel truck tanks, and other scrap materials. An open pit containing water with an oily surface and a large underground storage tank were abandoned on site. In 1972, 1984, and 1985 the Cortland County Health Department cited Rosen Brothers for violating state and county laws concerning waste handling. In 1985, the Cortland County Health Department ordered Rosen Brothers to take some needed safety and cleanup measures, but the order was disregarded. The site overlies the Cortland-Homer-Preble Aquifer, a glacial outwash sand and gravel deposit. Public and private wells tapping the aquifer within three miles of the site are the sole source of drinking water for an estimated 24,000 people. The population within a one-mile radius of the site is approximately 15,000. Perplexity Creek, a seasonally intermittent stream, borders the site and discharges about two miles downstream to the Tioughnioga River, which is used for recreational activities. The southern border of the site abuts Cortland City High School, and the Rosen Brothers site was used as a travel route for students walking to school until it was secured with a fence in 1989. Site Responsibility: This site is being addressed through federal and potentially responsible parties' actions.
13,825 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$55,538 |
Average Income |
4,673 |
Occupied homes |
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