CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A year after I publicly raised concerns about possible contamination surrounding Mary Lou Patton Park and called for the city to investigate the property, an environmental firm concluded that hazardous substances or petroleum products “has or may have occurred” on the city-owned park property and is recommending a subsurface Phase II investigation.
The findings are contained in a September 2026 Phase I Property Assessment prepared by Tetra Tech under Ohio EPA’s Targeted Brownfield Assessment Program.
Tetra Tech identified three Recognized Environmental Conditions, or RECs, involving the park: a former railyard that once occupied its southern portion, existing railroad tracks along its southern boundary, and a historic Allied Chemical Company landfill located nearby and hydraulically upgradient from the property.
The company ultimately recommended moving beyond historical records and visual inspections and conducting an investigation beneath the surface.
“Based on the information obtained during the site reconnaissance, record reviews, interviews, and review of environmental history of the Subject Property, a release of hazardous substances and/or petroleum products has or may have occurred on the Subject Property,” Tetra Tech concluded.
The company recommended a Phase II Property Assessment to investigate those environmental conditions.
The finding does not mean contamination at dangerous concentrations has been confirmed in the park. Tetra Tech conducted no subsurface sampling during the Phase I assessment. A Phase II investigation would begin answering that question.
Concerns were raised publicly a year ago
The recommendation follows more than a year of questions about the environmental history surrounding Mary Lou Patton Park.
In September 2025, I appeared before Chillicothe City Council and urged local officials to address environmental contamination across the city’s east side.
Scioto Post documented my Sept. 8, 2025 appearance before council, during which I discussed the WearEver groundwater plume, the former city dump and the former Allied Chemical operation near Mary Lou Patton Park.
During a later long-form interview conducted at Mary Lou Patton Park, Kevin Coleman reported how I questioned how officials could know whether the property had been affected when the park itself had never been comprehensively tested.
The interview specifically my concerns that children had played at the park for generations without environmental testing of the property.
Those concerns included not only WearEver, but the former Allied Chemical property along Washington Avenue and historic railroad operations near the park.
That distinction has become important.
Tetra Tech flags Allied Chemical Plant
The new assessment identifies the former Allied Chemical-Chillicothe as one of the recognized environmental conditions requiring further investigation.
Tetra Tech found the former hazardous sludge pits are hydraulically upgradient from the property.
According to the assessment, the former site had previously generated ignitable, corrosive and reactive hazardous wastes.
“Due to the former presence of hazardous waste and hydraulic upgradient location relative to the Subject Property, the Allied Chemical facility represents a REC,” Tetra Tech concluded.
The firm identified volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds and metals as chemicals of concern that should be evaluated in connection with the potential off-property source.
Importantly, those chemicals have not yet been confirmed in the park by this investigation. They are chemicals Tetra Tech identified for investigation based on the site’s history and potential environmental pathways.
A railyard next to the park
The chemicals of concern associated with that area include VOCs, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, and metals.
Again, the designation does not mean those substances have been detected in park soil. It means Tetra Tech determined the property’s history creates sufficient potential for a release to warrant investigation.
WearEver plume comes within about 100 feet
Then there is the environmental issue that initially brought intense public attention to the park: WearEver.
Tetra Tech’s assessment confirms just how close the documented chlorinated-solvent plume comes to the recreational property.
The former WearEver facility is approximately 0.231 miles southeast of Mary Lou Patton Park. Tetra Tech reported that the edge of the known chlorinated-VOC groundwater plume comes within approximately 100 feet of the park’s southeastern corner.
City eventually obtained funding for investigation
By May 2026, Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney announced publicly that the city had obtained grant funding to conduct a first phase of testing at Mary Lou Patton Park.
According to local coverage of the May 18 Chillicothe City Council meeting, Feeney specifically connected the action to concerns raised the previous year about the WearEver groundwater plume and said the initial investigation would determine whether more extensive testing was necessary.
We now know the answer to that question.
Tetra Tech says additional investigation is warranted.
Its Phase I did not involve drilling into the park or collecting soil and groundwater samples. Instead, investigators examined historical records, regulatory databases, environmental history, interviews and conditions visible during a July 7 site inspection.
Based on that work, Tetra Tech identified the former railyard, existing railroad operations, WearEver, and the nearby former Allied Chemical plant as environmental conditions requiring further evaluation.
The next step recommended by the environmental firm is a Phase II subsurface investigation.
That is the investigation that could finally begin answering the question raised publicly more than a year ago:
What, if anything, is actually beneath Mary Lou Patton Park?
