Posted Dec 22, 2009, 2:30 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
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Quote:
Ikea launches $8-million lawsuit
Alleges dry-cleaning chemicals contaminated soil under land set for chain’s biggest Canadian outlet
By Glen McGregor, The Ottawa CitizenDecember 21, 2009
OTTAWA — Ikea Canada says a section of land where it wants to build its largest store in the country has been contaminated with dry-cleaning chemicals.
The furniture and housewares chain says in court documents that an environmental study found tetrachloroethylene (also referred to as PCE or “perc”) in the soil under the parking lot at the east end of the Pinecrest Mall — the opposite side of the property from the current Ikea store.
The company has launched a suit against the owner of a small strip mall on the opposite side of Baxter Road, the past owner of the mall, and the owners of two dry-cleaning outlets that operated there until 2004. Ikea wants them to help pay for the cleanup. The lawsuit, which Ikea filed in July, claims $1 million in damages from each of the eight defendants, plus other costs.
Ikea’s lawsuit has also set off third-party litigation between the defendants.
Ikea alleges that PCE and other hazardous chemicals seeped into the soil and water table from the dry-cleaner formerly located in the Baxter Shopping Plaza and migrated underground to the Pinecrest Mall parking lot.
Soil samples taken from the southeast corner of the property during a 2007 environmental assessment found concentrations of the chemical at 37 parts per billion, about seven times the limit for non-potable groundwater.
The company claims the contamination is affecting plans to move its retail outlet from the west side of the mall into a new, two-storey building on the east side that will become the largest Ikea in the country.
The owners of the Baxter Plaza deny there is any problem with contamination from their property.
PCE is considered a probable or possible human carcinogen and in high concentrations can cause neurological problems and other health problems.
“The degradation products of PCE over time is also dangerous and harmful to humans and the natural environment,” Ikea says in the lawsuit. “The migration of the PCE onto the Ikea property, which contains both retail operations and restaurants, poses a hazard which Ikea cannot properly address while the migration from the Baxter property continues.”
However, an Ikea spokeswoman says the company believes the level of chemicals the environmental testing company found is not dangerous.
“We have been told that it is contained underground and that there is no risk to the health and safety of anybody shopping,” said Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick.
She said the test report shows the contamination “nicked” the eastern edge of the property.
Lowenborg-Frick said Ikea will pay to have the ground cleaned up, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.
One of the defendants, Baxter Plaza owner John Yang, denied there was a problem with contamination. He told the Citizen that testing of his property, ordered by the court last month, showed “most of the spots are OK.”
In a statement of defence, Yang and his company denied the dry-cleaning company contaminated the ground or ground water and challenged Ikea to prove otherwise.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In its statement of claim, Ikea says the chemicals are continuing to migrate from the Baxter Plaza resulting in ongoing contamination of its land “and possibly other neighbouring properties.”
The Baxter Plaza is next to the Ottawa Citizen’s parking lot and is flanked by residential homes to the east and across Iris Street to the south.
Lowenborg-Frick said Ikea immediately notified the City of Ottawa after it learned PCE had been found on the site.
But residents along Iris Street near the strip mall contacted by the Citizen said they were unaware that PCE had been found in the soil and had heard nothing from the city about it.
City planner Prescott McDonald says Ikea will likely treat the groundwater to neutralize the contaminants and create a barrier to keep out any more, rather than trying to remove the soil. More intervention would be required, however, if there were private wells in the area, he said.
Ikea bought the Pinecrest Mall property from Zellers in 1993 and rents space to several other retailers, including a Sears Home Store, Corbeil Appliances and a Linen Chest.
The company says plans to redevelop the mall are continuing, but there is no time line for construction of the new store.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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