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HALLOWELL — The president of Harper’s Development Kevin Mattson decided to halt the Demolition work by the company for some days at the historic Worster House.
The decision was taken after asbestos had been found in the building. Harper’s Development will wait until all the tenants have left the premises.
"Maine Department of Environmental Protection would have granted permission for asbestos removal to take place with tenants still living in the building. But the tenants are too upset already," Mattson said.
Mattson said that Harper’s Development was not aware of the asbestos presence in the building until some samples were tested.
It was in the last month that Mattson bought the Worster House from a group headed by Ed Wurpel.
Originally there were 30 tenants in the building. Now there are only 4 remain in the building.
"Hopefully, all the tenants will vacate the building by May 31," Mattson said.
Mattson is planning to begin the asbestos removal process by June 4. Morrissey Environmental will remove the deadly material from linoleum floor tiles and wrapping around a boiler in the basement of the old former hotel.
The demolition work had started on 18th April. The tenants in the building had ranted about the nose, dust and low water pressure during the renovations.
"Generally, you don’t need a demolition permit to do such work in Hallowell. But after 2 weeks into the work, I came to know from City Manager David Giroux that we have to have a permit from the DEP stating you have tested for asbestos to do demolition in large buildings. So we stopped work on May as we didn't have such a certificate," Mattson said.
The DEP had received a complaint from a tenant about the possibility of asbestos presence in the building. According to the compliance officer John Bucci, Harper’s Development could be fined for the job they did before taking the permission from the DEP.
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