WILTON — Removal of an underground oil tank and asbestos abatement at the former tannery building on Routes 2 and 4 is expected to be completed by the end of November, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said Monday.
Irish plans to update the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday during their regular meeting at 7 p.m. at the Town Office on the tank and asbestos removal from the site.
The town will receive additional funding, approximately $37,000, from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Economic and Community Development to cover the tank and asbestos removal, she said.
This comes in addition to the $150,000 grant funding received this summer from the DEP/DECD Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Program for cleanup of the site. The intention is to prepare the site for other commercial uses.
Total cleanup money awarded includes the initial $200,000 Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields grant received last fall, the $150,000 additional funding received this summer and now the $37,000 for tank and asbestos removal for a total of $387,000.
No matching funds from the town are needed for this new funding, as the town will meet the match of the original larger grant with mostly in-kind efforts, she said. A town crew has worked on some cleanup, as time allowed over this year, which almost completed the match for this grant, she said.
During November, a 15,000-gallon underground tank with No. 6 fuel oil still inside will be removed. Any needed remedial work will also be done. The funding also covers abatement and the removal of asbestos throughout the building in areas such as windows, insulation, floor tiles and the roof, she said.
“Plans for the remainder of the cleanup will be done this winter, public meetings will be held to inform residents and the project will go out to bid late winter/spring for the final cleanup to be completed next summer,” Irish said.
In other business, Irish will also update the board about letters sent to property owners under the town’s new property maintenance ordinance and the responses received from homeowners.
An update on the efforts of the Downtown Committee will also be given.
The board will consider a Maine Department of Transportation request to allow overweight vehicles to cross the Pine Bridge during a rehabilitation project, she said.
The bridge located on Route 156 is slated for repair next year, she said.
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