MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said this morning he hopes the city will know by Friday when demolition of the building at 201 S. Main St. will begin and how long it will take.
South Main Street fire destroys building
Videos, stories and photos pretaining to the fire of 201 South Main Street in Mount Vernon Ohio on October 25, 2010.
Mavis met with representatives of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to discuss options for expediting the OEPA permit process required by law for a project of this kind. The OEPA agreed to waive the 10-day waiting period for granting the permit because Mount Vernon City Engineer Cameron Keaton had certified the building was unstable and in danger of collapse.
“One of the mysteries about this project was if asbestos was present in the building,” Mavis said. “When that is present, EPA requires special handling. Since we had not been able to get into the building because of the instability of the walls, it was a stumbling block to moving this project ahead. In my conversation with the EPA, they explained that generally all of the material had to go to a special demolition site because there were no records or assessment of asbestos in the building. However, it would be possible to have a certified asbestos inspector on site. He would test each section of debris and determine if it was asbestos impacted or not. If it wasn’t then the debris could go to a regular construction debris landfill. If it was asbestos impacted it would have to go to a special site.”
Mavis said the decision to use either option would be up to the contractor hired to do the demolition. The contractor is the one who actually applies for the permit.
Mavis said because of the city’s interest in moving the project along, they had contacted the OEPA to try and facilitate the permitting process.
“Later in the day (Tuesday) I spoke with representatives of the insurance company, and with the owners and the contractor they want to employ to do the demolition. The insurance company informed me this coming Friday they would be in town meeting with the owners. The city will be present also and the project can get under way as soon as the permit is issued. I talked to the contractor and he was hoping to get the permit request completed and to the EPA no later than Friday. The EPA had agreed to waive the 10-day waiting period for the permit. So at this point I am optimistic that this project will get its kickoff on Friday morning.”
Calls to the building’s owners, John and Mary Lou Montenery, were not returned at press time.
