Hyde Park: a Timeline
1960s: Developers gradually carve more than 300 rectangular lots for development in a flat, swampy area drained by bisecting ditches and flanked to the east and west by parallel rail lines. Families who build homes there are mostly blacks who work at nearby factories.
1986: A mile away, company officials close down the aging Southern Wood Piedmont wood treatment plant, where chemicals leaking into the soil for decades have poisoned groundwater and nearby soil. The subsequent cleanup took decades and cost $46 million.
1991: Hyde Park residents launch the first of several lawsuits contending Southern Wood Piedmont polluted their neighborhood. Evidence, however, indicates groundwater flows in an opposite direction and the company denies all allegations. The lawsuits were later dismissed in Southern Wood’s favor.
1993: A detailed EPA study found elevated lead levels in ditches flowing from Goldberg Brothers into residential areas in nearby Hyde Park but found no evidence of wood-treating chemicals from another toxic waste site – Southern Wood Piedmont Co. – in the neighborhood. Recommendations included placement of warning signs near drainage ditches.
1994: Phillip Goldberg, the president of the adjacent junkyard, contended any problems in Hyde Park were linked to Southern Wood Piedmont, not his junkyard. The junkyard also built an earthen berm designed to keep stormwater from flowing into nearby Hyde Park.
1995: The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded that lead and other chemicals were not a health hazard to Hyde Park residents unless they ate the dirt on a daily basis for many years.
1998: After re-examining health studies at the request of politicians and residents, the agency reiterated its 1995 conclusions, saying again that the defunct wood treating plant “is not a health hazard to surrounding neighborhoods.”
1998: The EPA concluded there was enough lead in soil in one yard – Hattie Elam’s home on Walnut Street – to warrant a $100,000 cleanup. The source of the lead was presumed to be the Goldberg junkyard, which declared bankruptcy after being ordered to clean up the area.
1999: A $200,000 Brownfields grant is earmarked for conducting environmental assessments.
2000: After consultants find huge volumes of surface pollution at the Goldberg site, city of Augusta officials ask Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division for cleanup assistance.
2001: Georgia agrees to finance cleanup activities through the state Superfund account used to remediate toxic sites for which no responsible party can be charged.
2004: After a $10 million cleanup, the 10.8-acre Goldberg site is deemed safe for redevelopment.
2006: Augusta’s Brownfields Commission re-introduces its desire to develop a complete relocation plan for all Hyde Park residents.
– Rob Pavey, staff writer
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