THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012
VOL. 20 NO. 177
City seeks grant to assess and clean-up former Bass Shoe building BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN –Vacant for close to 24 years, the former Bass Shoe property has fallen into city ownership and the city council is set to approve a $400,000 grant application to assess and clean-up the property. Housing Coordinators Linda White and Andre Caron report the city acquired the 11-acre property last May for non-payment of taxes. White presented an application for a $400,000 federal Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields MultiPurpose Pilot Grant to the city council Monday. The grant would provide $200,000 for assessment work and $200,000 for clean-up. The city would have to provide a 20 percent match for the assessment portion of the grant or $40,000. The match would come out of the city’s 2012 Housing Initiative fund. The city council held a first reading of a resolution authorizing the application and has scheduled a public
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hearing and final vote for the Feb. 6 council meeting. The Berlin Industrial Development and Park Authority gave the proposal its support at the board’s monthly meeting last week. The city has already has a Phase-I assessment of the building underway. The Phase I assessment documents the historical use of the property and identifies potential issues. Caron said there is no record of significant hazardous issues with the building. The grant would fund a more detailed Phase II assessment, which determines what hazardous materials are in the building and what it would cost to abate them. The assessment potion of the grant can also be used for clean-up planning. Once the assessment is complete, the clean-up portion of the grant would be used to abate all hazardous materials in the building. White said as part of the application, the city must show interest and commitment to redeveloping the propsee GRANT page 7 Dick Dupont, a heavy equipment operator with the Nelson Company of Conway, positions boulders on the washed out bank of the Peabody River recently in an effort to repair damage done by Tropical Storm Irene in August. The storm caused heavy damage that is costing FEMA and the town of Gorham close to $700,000 to repair. (MELISSA GRIMA PHOTO)
Repairs to riverbanks well underway BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
Treacherous road conditions delayed school openings for two hours and kept the Berlin Fire Department as well as the Berlin P.D. very busy Wednesday morning. This vehicle hit a house on the corner of Denmark and Eight Street and towing companies had a difficult time removing it. (RITA DUBE PHOTO)
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GORHAM — Banks eroded by August flooding as a result of Tropical Storm Irene are in the process of being repaired. Two areas on White Birch Lane along the Peabody River, as well as the bank along Libby Field have workers on hand to stabilize the shorelines that were damaged and mitigate future damage from similar events. Gorham Town Manager Robin Frost said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been reimbursing the town for 75 percent of the repair costs as needed. “We’re getting funding as we send bills in,”
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Frost said. The town is responsible for the remaining 25 percent cost. At the southern end of White Birch Lane a berm was constructed near the bend in the river to help prevent the overflow situation that caused the Peabody River to jump its bank and wash out a portion of White Birch Lane. At the northern end of White Birch Lane, a bank that was eroded along the roadway was stabilized with large boulders. Frost said that FEMA approved funding to repair White Birch Lane itself as well, so a change order was put through with the Nelson Company of Conway, who was awarded the contract. The see REPAIRS page 7
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