Mayor, board discuss obtaining money for new survey of site in preparation for demolition |
| GARDNER — In an attempt to move the demolition project at the former S. Bent Bros. site forward, members of the Redevelopment Authority met with Mayor Mark Hawke Tuesday to discuss the allocation of funding for a hazardous material survey and a perimeter survey of the property. According to Robert Hubbard, committee member and director of planning and development, the first step toward forwarding the project is conducting a hazardous material survey. “It looks like the city is going to get a deferred payment loan from (the Department of Housing and Community Development) to pay for a hazardous material survey which is the next step that you need before you can do any demolition,” said Mr. Hubbard. “They have essentially verbally approved this, and it looks like it will be about $24,000.” Also a top priority for the committee is a perimeter survey, which would cost just less than $7,000 and is something Mr. Hawke said would help fill in some holes left from outdated records. “We need to conduct this boundary survey to see what exactly we own down there,” said Mr. Hawke. “All we have right now are some very old records from the mid ’80s.” Mr. Hawke said demolishing the remaining buildings on the property has become a top priority following the recent fire that destroyed one of the major structures. “If there is another fire down there in one of the other buildings it could turn into a situation that would be detrimental and would cost 10 times as much to clean up and would probably take 10 times as long to complete the process.” Before the process can begin, Mr. Hubbard said the Redevelopment Authority needs approval from an “authorizing body,” but it is still unknown which department that is. “When we do a real estate related project we need approval from the authorizing body so I wanted to get some clarity from the city solicitor that it is in fact the City Council and the mayor, that they are the authorizing body.” At the meeting, Mr. Hawke said he is currently looking into the issue of which governmental arm can authorize the project, and said he believes it is the city. “The Department of Housing and Community Development says it is them because they approved our renewal plan,” said Mr. Hawke. “But it is the city that has to vote to create a redevelopment authority and the city appoints four of the five members and the governor appoints the fifth.” The mayor’s proposal was that the redevelopment authority provide the funds necessary to move the project forward, and in return will receive a portion of the revenue generated from the sale of the property. “I am going to have an agreement or contract drawn up that will give the redevelopment authority some level of comfort so they will be reimbursed of these funds,” said Mr. Hawke. “There are 27 acres there; if we have a business come in and say they only need five acres of that we could carve it off, and then give it to the redevelopment authority and they would act as the real estate agent.” Overall, Mr. Hawke said he is very encouraged with the headway that is being made toward the demolition of the remaining buildings, which he said pose a significant threat to public safety. “This is a fantastic step and we are very grateful of chairman Lepkowski and the entire redevelopment authority,” said Mr. Hawke. “This is going to be a huge help.” oboss@thegardnernews.com |
| Appeared on Page 1 on 8/20/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 197) |
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