Allen County’s Metea Park could become home to Houdini the screech owl, Homer the American kestrel, Ruby the red tailed hawk and Apollo the great horned owl, and all their friends.FORT WAYNE – Memorial Park Middle School sits about 250 feet from the underground plume of contamination linked to developmental and reproductive-system disorders, but officials say the chemicals are not under school grounds and no longer appear to be moving toward the school.
The chemicals, from years or decades of spills at Wayne Metal Protection, 1511 Wabash Ave., have spread northeast from the former metal plating company. Officials initially feared the school could be affected.
But Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials say the plume appears to be stable and that monitoring wells between the plume and the school will detect any changes. Reports from the monitoring wells are sent to IDEM quarterly.
Fort Wayne Community Schools officials have paid for numerous tests at the school to ensure the environment is safe.
“While we have not seen any negative environmental impact at Memorial Park from Wayne Metal Protection, we are happy they have a plan to eliminate the contamination that is so close to one of our schools,” district spokeswoman Krista Stockman said. “We have done a lot of testing over the years at Memorial Park; … all that testing has come back negative.”
