The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: July 31, 1996

 Attorney will look into Avtex takeover

By: Diane Hartson

The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority decided Tuesday to hire an attorney to look over an agreement for the takeover of a portion of the former Avtex Fibers plant and a construction company to help estimate the cost of redeveloping the site.

Volunteers have been helping with both efforts on the Avtex project, authority Executive Director Stephen A. Heavener said.

Local attorney Brian M. Madden, a member of the county Redevelopment Corp., has been reviewing the agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the corporation for a portion of the site to be turned over for redevelopment.

And the local Du Pont plant has provided help in evaluating the structures at the site being eyed for redevelopment, Heavener said.

Attorney Dan Siegel, who has been placed on retainer to help the authority with more complicated legal issues, will be asked to review the agreement and advise the authority on whether it protects the community from liability for past pollution at the site, he said. Shockey Construction will be hired to help "get a better handle on what needs to be rehabilitated, what needs to be torn down" and what it will cost to redevelop the site, Heavener said.

He said the cost of hiring both the attorney and the construction company will be no more than several thousand dollars.

Heavener said he will recommend to the authority that it begin soon to prepare a detailed strategic plan for the site outlining options for its redevelopment.

Those could include tearing down buildings completely if the study shows that the bare land is more valuable without them, offering to give buildings to developers if they will rehabilitate them or phased redevelopment done by the authority or the corporation, he said.

"We need to have a pretty comprehensive redevelopment plan that answers all those questions" about how to best reuse the site, he said.

Heavener said he expects Siegel to complete his review of the agreement on the Avtex site in 30 to 60 days and that the EPA will need an additional 90 to 120 days for its review of any changes proposed by the authority.