Ottawa officials say Carus warehouse in South Towne Mall is monitored closely

Ottawa city officials are reassuring residents that a storage facility at South Towne Mall housing chemicals from Carus Chemical LLC will be monitored closely after the company announced earlier this week that it would voluntarily decommission a warehouse in La Salle.

Chemical potassium permanganate kept in the warehouse is stored under strict guidelines, packaged before arriving on-site and will not be opened until it is in the hands of whoever buys it, said Ryan Peterson, chief operating officer at Lotz Logistics.

The storage facility only handles the packaged potassium permanganate, which is securely contained in a protective plastic containment vessel and secured behind an access-controlled electronic cage, according to a joint news release from Mayor Dan Aussem and the Ottawa City Council.

Earlier this week, Carus Chemical said it would remove all materials from the La Salle warehouse within the next two weeks after a resident raised concerns about what was being stored there.

Although residents continue to ask the La Salle City Council about health and safety concerns after the Jan. 11 Carus Chemical fire, the warehouse operated by Carus in La Salle was not involved in the fire. The chemical potassium permanganate, however, was reported to be the substance that covered cars, lawns and other outdoor items after the fire. Experts said it was nontoxic in those conditions.

Peterson said Lotz has been working with Carus hauling potassium permanganate for a long time – more than several years – and he said there have not been any issues.

“Carus approached us in early 2022 and asked if we could come up with a storage solution, so we started working on that,” Peterson said. “In working with the city of Ottawa, we came up with the South Towne Mall as a potential location.”

The city along with its emergency response team and its building official said they will take a proactive response to ensure all necessary safety and security measures are in place at this storage facility, according to the release.

Ottawa Fire Chief Brian Bressner and building official Mathew Stafford have completed an inspection of the facility, according to the release. A complete sprinkler system is in place, and a new fire alarm system, security camera system and spill containment system are at this location, the mayor and council said.

Additionally, all Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements are being met, the city officials said. The staff is certified per Department of Homeland Security requirements, hazmat-certified and OSHA-trained, both Peterson and city officials said.

In the immediate future, the Ottawa Police Department will have full camera access to the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the release.

Peterson said that since the building isn’t purpose-built to be a warehouse, it took work to convert into one. That work was accompanied by strict standards that require regulation from governmental bodies, such as Homeland Security, he said.

“We bring in packaged goods,” Peterson said. “That’s the important point. The goods stay packed the entire time and, upon customer’s request, we ship those packages out. There aren’t any open containers, and there is no mixing of chemicals.”

Aussem said Lotz contracted an architect and had several meetings with Stafford and Bressner before, during and after construction. The building was fully inspected and found to be following all codes.

“They went through all applicable state and federal code just for what was going to be stored over there,” Bressner said. “The biggest thing is that potassium permanganate. All those codes follow what those come for from either Carus or the [material safety data sheets] that follow those chemicals. They’re matching everything there.”

An MSDS sheet is a data sheet of hazardous ingredients that make up a product, its physical and chemical characteristics – such as flammability or explosive properties – its effect on human health, the chemicals that it can adversely react with, handling precautions, types of measures that are used to control exposure, emergency and first aid procedures, and methods to contain a spill, according to OSHA.

Peterson said the facility is monitored at all times by a private service and, within the next week or so, the city will have access to the surveillance system.

“Everything’s been done above board and by the book from start to finish,” Peterson said. “We were already under a microscope when we started doing this, and even if we weren’t, it’s in our company nature to do everything above board and proper.”

The Ottawa Plan Commission and the City Council approved the facility, and Lotz Logistics issued letters to residents making them aware of those meetings in June 2022.

Three people who received letters took part in the public comment section.

The Plan Commission laid out these rules: Business hours are from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., truck traffic must use Route 23, there will be no overnight truck parking, the only chemicals stored is to be potassium permanganate, there will be no shipping container storing or truck idling, and there must be screening on the building’s east side put up within two years of the agreement.

The City Council concurred with the Plan Commission’s findings and unanimously passed an ordinance granting a conditional use permit for Lotz Logistics on July 5, 2022.

“Lotz has been very open and receptive to requests by the city to ensure this product is safely stored and maintained for both the health and safety of the other tenants in the building and the Ottawa community,” the mayor and City Council said in their release. “The city will continue to work in conjunction with Lotz to ensure all necessary safety measures are maintained and updated.”