Many people who live in Upper Arlington are noticing a gated-off section of the Giant Eagle parking lot in the Kingsdale Shopping Center.
10TV has learned the crews are working to excavate hazardous chemicals.
Ohio EPA documents show during redevelopment of the Kingsdale Shopping Center in 2009, soil contaminated with perchloroethylene, or PERC for short, a dry-cleaning solvent, was excavated under the former Swan Cleaners business.
PERC evaporates in the air and dissolves only slightly when mixed with water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It can affect the human nervous system, create dizziness, fatigue, headaches, sweating and can cause liver and kidney damage.
Many shoppers at Giant Eagle say they had no idea PERC was an issue in their area.
More surprising, to some, is that documents show CTL Engineering, INC., working on behalf of Echo/Continental Kingsdale, LLC, placed the soil in three plastic lined areas and then covered it with asphalt, which is now the parking lot of Giant Eagle.
"When we were reviewing documents that had been submitted to us, we saw what had been done and we reached out to the property owner and said this isn't really appropriate," Ohio EPA Spokeswoman, Heather Lauer, said.
Many people say they're upset that there wasn't any public notice about the issue, or that they weren't made aware of why the working crews were digging up the Giant Eagle parking lot.
10TV attempted to contact Echo Continental Kingsdale for comment but calls were not returned.
The EPA is now working with the Kingsdale owners to excavate, test and properly dispose of contaminated soil.