Daniel Prince
Environmental consultant calls it a cleaner site than most
A small crowd of Jonesville residents attended the public meeting Tuesday regarding the mill site cleanup project. The town has received Community Development Block Grant funds for the project, and a public meeting prior to the project start is required to gather input, answer questions, and give out important information regarding the project. The former Wellington Leisure Products site is slated to be cleared. Hepaco won the bid to do the work for the project, which will consist of clearing off vegetation, safely clear off asbestos from the property, remove existing concrete pads and walls, take down and dispose of the smokestack, and clear out any other debris before grading the site and seeding it. Town Administrator Michael Tyler said this project is a long time in coming for the town:
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Gail Jeter, an environmental consultant for the project, said the site is cleaner than many other mill sites. She noted that a previous owner of the property had done some asbestos abatement previously, and there were only a few scattered pieces of asbestos on the property, some of which were from open dumping of roofing materials. There was some slight groundwater contamination of two heavy metals in one small area of the property, but that won’t affect plans for the site, as the town uses public water. Some of the soil samples indicated levels that would be too high for single-family dwellings, but since the area will be used as a park, that won’t be a concern, either. One area in the upper corner of the property tested beyond the limits for industrial standards, so a barrier will have to be put in place to cap off the contamination. Jeter said a parking lot or building would be a good cap for the area. She noted that most former mill sites have a lot more contamination than the one in Jonesville.
Brandon Mantooth with Hepaco said his company has mapped out the project, which he estimated would take 8-9 weeks to complete if everything goes well and the weather permits, putting the end of the project somewhere around the end of March. There will be independent air monitoring around the site to ensure that asbestos is not becoming airborne and affecting the surrounding community. Mantooth said most of the asbestos is in the central areas of the property, and that should not be a concern. Working hours for the project would typically be from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but he said any of the work that involves a lot of noise would start a little later in the morning. Mantooth said he was contacted by Controlled Demolition, Inc., which is a global pyrotechnic company that drops buildings, and he said they showed interest in dropping the smokestack. He said he is trying to get his safety team on board with the idea, and it could become a pretty big spectacle complete with drone footage and more if that happens. More details will come on that in the future, as that will be one of the last things to be done in the project.
Tyler thanked Union County for stepping up and helping with matching funds for the grant, as well as covering landfill charges for the project. He noted the overall project will have three phases. Cleaning the property off and grading it will be the first phase. He said the town will maintain the property from that point. Phase two would be adding in parking lots, additional grading, and some other things. Phase 3 would involve putting in park amenities. He said the town will be applying for CDBG money for phase 2 of the project this fall, and they would eventually apply to the Appalachian Regional Commission for grant money for phase 3.