The Environmental Protection Agency began negotiations last month with the FMC Corp. over which party will be responsible for performing different parts of the study for the long-term cleanup of the Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal.

In the letter to Fred Foster, chairman of the local Industrial Redevelopment Committee, Kimberley A. Hummel, the chief of the EPA's remediation section for Virginia and West Virginia, says the negotiations should be completed by the end of March.

Work on the study should be under way by late spring, Ms. Hummel says. Parts of the ground water study include the drilling of more monitoring wells; on-site and off-site soil sampling; water, sludge and sediment sampling from waste basins at the site; sampling of fly-ash piles and other landfill areas; and Shenandoah River sampling. The buildings also will be inventoried and the sewer system will be investigated.

The letter was released at Tuesday's committee meeting.

David C. Whitestone, an aide to 10th District Rep. Frank R. Wolf, said the congressman will meet with representatives from the EPA to find out more about the site and the cleanup, which has been virtually at a standstill since April, when a structurally unsound part of the plant was dismantled.

Brian B. Shull, a member of the committee and the director of the local Industrial Development Authority, said proposed legislation that would expand the number of "enterprise zones" in Virginia from 19 to 25 is flowing smoothly through the General Assembly.

The zones must be economically distressed areas that contain a mix of residential and industrial properties. The state offers some economic breaks to development in an enterprise zone.

Committee members William Barnett, Thomas Preston, Warren County Planning Director F. Randolph Hodgson and Town Planner Kimberley P. Fogle will work with Shull in outlining the zone and drafting the application to the state.

Committee members also said there will be an appraisal of a site of the Ed Stump Playground of about four acres owned by Avtex and leased to the town, but outside the fenced perimeter of the plant.

Someone has expressed an interest in buying the property, members said, and the bankruptcy court will require a certified appraisal before it can entertain any bids