By Perry Schaible
Enquirer contributor

FAIRFIELD TWP. - Soil samples from five homes in the 1970s Brentwood Estates subdivision have revealed hazardous levels of lead.

Nine of 130 soil samples taken last month from 10 yards in the neighborhood east of Butler Tech registered above the maximum government standard of 400 parts per million for residential property.

Registered letters were sent to the 10 homeowners this week notifying them of the results, said Scott Glum, an environmental specialist and site coordinator for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's southwestern district office in Dayton. He would not identify the five homeowners with high lead levels.

By Friday afternoon, Tanya Moore, who has lived on Mindy Drive for 20 years, hadn't received a letter. But she was anxious to find out the results.

"I felt like it had to be tested. If (lead) was there, it had to be taken care of," she said.

The samples were taken from homes on Elenor and Mindy drives in early May at depths up to 12 inches. The results released by the Ohio EPA on Friday were for samples collected at 3 to 6 inches.

Of the nine hot spots, lead levels ranged from 558 to 44,400 parts per million.

Additional spots could be found when the state completes analyzing samples taken last month from the top 3 inches of soil and the 6-to-12-inch depths.

Brentwood Estates was built in the late 1970s on a small skeet-shooting range off Millikin Road. It is about one mile west of Lexington Manor, a subdivision in Liberty Township - also built on a skeet-shooting range - that is involved in the remediation process for lead.

In his letter to the Brentwood Estates residents, Glum said the Ohio EPA plans to request assistance from the U.S. EPA in addressing the contamination.

"Whether or not the property is cleaned up is up to the homeowner. No one will force them to clean up the property. If they don't want the soil cleaned up, they're not under an obligation to do it," Glum said.

"But because they're aware that they have excessive lead in the soil, they would have to disclose that at any real estate transaction under the law."

Joanne Wise, 65, declined to have her property on Mindy Drive tested and said the positive result won't change her mind.

"I have lived here for 20-some years. I've raised children, I've raised grandchildren, I have had pets, I have beautiful trees. ... I have no concern," she said Friday. "I think it's being overdone. We're just going through the lead cycle, in a year or two it will be something else."

Other residents, like Moore, plan to have their property cleaned, which will likely be paid for by the Ohio or U.S. EPA.

"I'd hate to see my yard torn up. My yard is beautiful, but what do you do? You have to get it taken care of," Moore said.

Glum said results from the other depths should be released in two to three weeks.

John Kiesewetter contributed to this report.