cleanup · Orleans County
Starlite Dry Cleaners
Medina
A dry cleaner operated beside the Erie Canal for half a century before fire, demolition, and investigation revealed a concentrated chlorinated-solvent source in soil and groundwater.
The documented story
What happened here?
The small property at 331 North Main Street holds more than a dry-cleaning history. A stone produce warehouse was built there around 1830, a livery and hitch-barn addition followed around 1910, and automobile businesses occupied the buildings from approximately 1927 to 1948. Starlite Dry Cleaners then operated from 1953 until a 2004 fire heavily damaged the original building.
The dry cleaner used tetrachloroethene, commonly called PCE, for decades before switching to a petroleum-based solvent in the 1990s. After the fire ended the business, the damaged buildings remained until demolition in 2016. The property is only about a quarter acre and slopes toward the Erie Canal, roughly 25 feet east of the site.
A 2009 site characterization and a 2017 remedial investigation traced PCE and its breakdown products through soil, soil gas, and groundwater. The highest concentrations occurred in bedrock groundwater near and downgradient of the former equipment-maintenance area, giving investigators a physical source-and-pathway story rather than a conclusion based only on the site's former use.
DEC found site-related chlorinated solvents in groundwater beyond the eastern property line, but not in the adjacent canal surface-water or sediment samples collected for the investigation. That distinction matters: groundwater migration was documented, while the reviewed decision did not identify the Erie Canal as carrying the dry-cleaning solvents.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Circa 1830–1948
A produce warehouse, livery and hitch barn, and later automobile businesses occupied the Main Street property.
1953–1990s
Starlite used PCE in its dry-cleaning operation before changing to a petroleum-based solvent.
2004–2016
A fire destroyed the dry-cleaning operation and heavily damaged the building; the remaining structures were demolished in 2016.
2009–2010
Initial characterization found chlorinated volatile organic compounds in soil and groundwater and supported listing the property as a Class 2 State Superfund site.
2017–2019
The remedial investigation sampled soil, groundwater, soil gas, surface water, and sediment, followed by a feasibility study and proposed remedy.
March 2020
DEC selected excavation, in-situ chemical reduction, a maintained cover, groundwater restrictions, vapor review, and long-term site management.
After 2020
Remedial design, implementation, monitoring, and periodic certification became the measures of whether the selected remedy was performing as intended.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
New York selects excavation and in-place treatment for the former dry cleaner
DEC's decision called for removing contaminated source soil, treating chlorinated solvents in soil and bedrock groundwater with zero-valent iron, maintaining a commercial-use cover, restricting groundwater use, and evaluating vapor intrusion as part of long-term site management.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- PCE, TCE, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride were contaminants of concern in groundwater; localized PAHs were identified in subsurface soil.
- DEC reported PCE in bedrock groundwater as high as 78,000 parts per billion, with TCE, cis-1,2-DCE, and vinyl chloride also exceeding groundwater standards near or downgradient of the former building footprint.
- Site-related chlorinated solvents were detected in groundwater east of the property. Samples from the adjacent Erie Canal did not contain those volatile compounds, and DEC noted that PAHs found in canal sediment could have come from other properties or runoff sources.
- Soil-gas results showed a possible migration pathway, leading the selected remedy to require vapor-intrusion evaluation for future on-site buildings and occupied neighboring buildings when warranted.
- The decision also reported PFOA and PFOS detections during the investigation. It did not identify the former dry cleaner as a PFAS manufacturer or establish a community-wide PFAS source area.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The selected remedy calls for excavating the principal source area near the former dry-cleaning equipment and disposing of the removed material off site.
- Zero-valent iron is used for in-situ chemical reduction of chlorinated contaminants in overburden soil and bedrock groundwater.
- A commercial-use cover and environmental easement control remaining contamination and restrict groundwater from potable or process use without appropriate treatment and approval.
- The site-management plan requires groundwater monitoring, inspection, periodic reporting, and evaluation of soil-vapor intrusion where future construction or nearby occupancy creates a potential pathway.
Then and now
The site today
The former dry-cleaner property remains a Class 2 State Superfund site subject to the selected commercial-use remedy and long-term controls. Current protectiveness should be judged from the newest construction, monitoring, and periodic-review records—not from the 2020 decision alone.