After approving clearing land at the former US Axminster site on Colorado Street in August 2017, the city council has found an acceptable proposal from Phillips Land Clearing and Mulching LLC.
The site has not yet been cleaned because the city did not have the capabilites to perform the task within the public works department, according to the public works committee.
Phillips proposal addressed two sections for $33,000. Section one includes work along the front side from Colorado Street to the fence line for $4,500 and section two is 15 to 20 acres behind the back fence for $28,500. The proposal includes the cost of material and labor necessary to complete the project.
Section one of the proposal was approved for recommendation based on the availability of funds.
Concerns last year from city officials and residents were discussed at a December council meeting.
“We heard your concerns... We’re running into some permit problems, some other things, so we’re trying to do the right thing – get it cleaned up and cleaned up right– so we’re not waiting,” Mayor Errick D. Simmons said at a December meeting.
In April 2013, crews tore down the 70,000 square-foot factory that employed generations of families from 1956 until 2004.
The city-owned building was demolished for $150,000 by Huntington Machinery Inc. and Gentry Demolition LLC in exchange for any salvageable materials inside the building.
At the time of the demolition, city officials did not have plans for the site other than turning it to green space.
Converting the space into a residential area was suggested when Brad Jones served as the city’s public works director.
“It is a good site for housing. It’s a good blend for this area,” Jones previously said, adding the Environmental Protection Agency has already inspected the site for potential contaminations that could affect future occupants of the property.
Almost six years later, the site remains vacant.
During the past year, a portion of the $300,000 EPA Brownfield grant awarded to the city in 2017 was used for assessing the Axminster site.
For phase 1 assessment, research was conducted on the property, while in phase 2 soil and groundwater were sampled for potential building contaminants used during construction, such as asbestos or radioactivity.
Although more than $47,875 has been spent for phase 1 and 2 assessments, the results found no contaminants, said Bill Burle, owner of W.L. Burle Engineers.
“There’s not an environmental issue there, but we requested a review by the EPA to see if some remediation money could be used to fill in the lagoon. We’re still waiting for feedback from them,” he said.
Without assistance from the EPA the cost of filling in the lagoon, approximately $2 million, would be out of the question for the city, Burle said.
