Although an agreement is in place, there is no time line for launching the cleanup of Gainesville's Superfund site.

At a rare meeting on the grounds of the Koppers' property, residents met representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency and Beazer East, which is responsible for the cleanup.

EPA Director Scott Miller says the start of the clean-up is close.

The next step in the process is issuing the "consent decree" or contract between the EPA and Beazer East- overseen by the Deartment of Justice.

"We know in general what these remediations entail, we don't have specific remedial design for this specific site activity but we're working on that," said Scott Miller, EPA Remedial Project Manager.

Miller expects a signed consent decree by this winter, but Beazer representatives aren't jumping to set anything in stone.

"I think there's a lot of variables that can affect the schedule, and I'd hate to put out there a schedule and disappoint people but certainly there's a whole administrative process that needs to take place which we're working on right now," said Mitch Brourman, Beazer East Environmental Manager.

The engineering plan outlining how they'll accomplish the goals of the cleanup won't come until after the consent decree is signed.