MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — More than two months after Marva Gaston addressed Middletown City Council about the stories-tall pile of concrete aggregate towering over her and her neighbor's homes, city administrators invited her to the municipal building for a meeting where they laid out the plan to move the pile.
Gaston invited WCPO to cover the meeting after we led the way in hearing her concerns and then asking council members and city officials about them.
Wednesday's meeting involved City Manager Ashley Combs, Community and Economic Development Program Manager Jacob Shulte and Engineer Scott Tadych, according to Gaston.
We asked her how it went as she walked out.
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"Pretty much as expected. A breakdown of the plans the city potentially has for the aggregate that's in the location, but no mention of any real removal from the site other than the one-third they're going to be using out by the airport," she said.
A city official told us that "one third" referred to between 33% and 40% slated to be used "for access drive improvements at the City Wellfields within the next few months."
The official said the remaining pile would be used for infrastructure repairs through the Public Works Department and "site improvements for future business uses."
Gaston, who has repeatedly asked that the pile be moved off of its current site along Verity Parkway, where the old Paperboard facility was located, was frustrated by the lack of a timetable for the remaining material's departure from her neighborhood.
"There's no real plan for it, and any other suggestions that were given were basically for the material to sit there until they figure it out," she said.
Several city council members acknowledged WCPO's coverage and called for administrators to find solutions to the pile at a meeting in early June.
The rest of the city's plan involved working with mediator Burgess and Niple to review the pile and ensure the pile poses no health hazard to the people living nearby, and replacing the patched-together fence surrounding the property.
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We asked the city for interviews with those involved in the meeting with Gaston, but were told they left immediately after it concluded.
"They know I'm not just going to go away," she said.
Gaston remained committed to ensuring the pile is completely moved from the property, but appreciated the city's commitment to continue testing the material in the pile to ensure dust blowing from it onto their properties is not hazardous.
