EPA launches mall cleanup

A public hearing on the proposed two-year, $18 million federal environmental cleanup of the Rustic Mall in Manville will be held Sept. 11.

By: Alec Moore
   Residents will have their chance to chime in on a proposed two-year, $18 million Federal environmental cleanup of the Rustic Mall during a second public hearing at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at the municipal building.
   All redevelopment plans for the Rustic Mall, outlined in Manville Borough’s downtown revitalization plans, will hinge on the cleanup, being conducted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
   "This is a proposal and as such it is subject to public comment," said Rich Puvogel, EPA project manager for the superfund cleanup, who pointed out that the proposed plan calls for the excavation of roughly 38,000 cubic yards of creosote-contaminated soil from beneath the mall’s parking lot.
   Once public hearings have concluded, EPA officials will weigh the public comments and then spend a year drawing up the design phase of the cleanup, all before any actual work is done at the mall.
   Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke said that until the borough has a definite timeline for the EPA’s cleanup the borough’s downtown revitalization plan for the mall, drafted last year, will have to be put on hold.
   "There’s no sense in making plans for something you won’t be able to do," said Mr. Garwacke, who said borough officials were aware that the cleanup would greatly impact the borough’s downtown revitalization plans.
   "Our biggest concern is that this is done in a timely manner and that it’s done to residential standards," he added, expressing that once the property has been cleaned up of all residual creosote deposits, the borough hopes to work with the property owner to build income-qualified senior citizen housing.
   Rustic Mall and the neighboring Claremont subdivision were built on the site of the Federal Creosote Company land. Following a study of the groundwater contamination in the area, the EPA purchased 14 homes in the subdivision in 1999. The EPA has been evaluating the contamination on the Rustic Mall site as part of a Superfund cleanup project.