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FARMINGTON – Commissioners expressed support for asking an engineering firm to undertake a survey of the Church Street Commons basement’s air quality today, after the firm’s report indicated potential concerns with underground fuel tanks formerly located on the site.
The Franklin County administration is putting forward a $4.46 million facility project before the voters on Nov. 2, with the bulk of that funding a renovation of the Commons. A two-story, brick building located on Church Street, the Commons would house most county functions, according to the plan. The proposal calls for the registry of deeds and probate court, which are both running critically low on space, to be housed on the first and second floors of the Commons, respectively. The basement of the building would not be used in the day-to-day county operations, but would include a conference room, boilers and HVAC systems, and space for an county Emergency Management Agency command center in the case of a disaster.
The Commons is currently owned by Steve Braconi and Joseph Carlson, who have leased space out to a number of organizations. As part of the proposal, the Commons would be purchased outright by the county. The sale would go through following an affirmative vote by county residents, so all inspections and testing must occur before Nov. 2.
With that in mind, the county employed an engineering firm, S.W. Cole Engineering Inc., to conduct an environmental assessment of the property. S.W. Cole filed their report last week, reporting a potential concern with the air quality in the building.
The Commons, as both planners and the engineers have noted, was formerly a print shop and an automobile dealership and service center. This was part of the reason the facility was considered in the first place; the steel-reinforced floors are capable of supporting the significant weight of the registry of deeds’ and probate court’s documents. However, S.W. Cole noted that three underground storage tanks were at one time buried at the site, filled with No. 2 petroleum.
Three 1,000 gallon tanks were removed; one in 2005 and two others in 1989. While S.W. Cole located Maine Department of Environmental Protection paperwork regarding the 2005 removal, which showed no soil contamination, they were unable to find material relating to the 1989 removal.
The concern revolves around potential contamination from the long-gone tanks leaching up into the basement and creating an air quality issue. S.W. Cole recommended an air quality test in the basement to ensure levels are within acceptable limits.
County officials agreed the test was necessary, although they noted that the project itself calls for an overhaul of the building’s ventilation systems and interior. Greg Roux, who directs the maintenance of county facilities, said that air quality in the basement at this point was likely to be at its worse possible level for the building; as the basement has been shut up with no traffic for several months.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with the project,” Commissioner Gary McGrane agreed, “but we need to cross all our Ts and dot all our Is, and we need to do it as expeditiously as possible.”
S.W. Cole will be retained to do the test as part of their contract with the county. Officials did not have an exact cost at the meeting, but believed it was relatively inexpensive to undertake.
Vote no.
The two underground tanks were not removed until the current owners purchased the building which was much later than 1989 in the story. Indeed, the tanks were not taken out until around 2004 or 2005.
I’m certain of this as my wife and I had a contract to purchase the building back in 2004 to develop it, but the deal fell through on the seller’s refusal to remove the tanks. (prior previous purchasers also walked away from buying it for the same reason) At that time, Maine DEP confirmed to me that the tanks were illegal, but they said they had no authority to do anything about it.
The town definitely needs to take the possibility of past leakage under consideration. Otherwise, it’s the taxpayer that will end up paying the cleanup bill.