August 07, 1999

With passage by the House of Representatives of a bill authorizing the expenditure of $17 million to demolish buildings and prepare land for redevelopment at the Avtex Fibers site in Front Royal, the difficult work remains: getting the money appropriated.

The House passed the bill just before midnight Thursday. The Senate had approved it earlier that afternoon.

Tenth District Rep. Frank R. Wolf said Friday that the next step is to push for the appropriation of the money in the fiscal 2000 federal budget, which takes effect Oct.1.

"We’ll be addressing the appropriation in September and October," he said. "With Senator Warner's effort, we will now be able to say we have actual authorization. It will be difficult, but the fact that he did this will be helpful."

Sen. John R. Warner, the lead conferee on the Water Resources Development Act, added language to the conference report authorizing the Army corps of Engineers to spend $12 million and the Department of the Army to spend $5 million to clear land at Avtex on which several deteriorated buildings sit.

The funding is aimed at making way for commercial and industrial, reuse of that portion of the site.

While the water resources bill only authorizes the spending of the money, the authorization is an important step, Wolf said.

Without authorization legislation, Wolf last year pushed through a $275,000 grant to help remove lead and asbestos from the buildings. Warner's authorization legislation will help the two garner support for appropriating the $17 million, he said.

But this will be a tough budget year, Wolf said. "We're now faced with a tight, tight budget."

The House has passed 11 of 12 spending authorization bills. There isn't enough money in the budget, as it now stands to cover the remaining bill, Wolf said.

"In essence, it's harder to manage with a surplus than it was with a deficit [because] Republicans are committed to a balanced budget," he said.

Warren County plans to take ownership of 110 acres at the site, including a 40-acre section containing several dilapidated buildings, by the end of the year.

The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority's plans for developing the former rayon plant call for demolishing all but one building at the site.

Local officials have said the demolition will cost at least $12 million, including about $5 million just for removing asbestos and lead in the buildings.

Authority Director Stephen A. Heavener said Thursday that $17 million is probably closer to the actual cost.

Local officials had assumed that it would take up to seven years to remove the asbestos and lead, tear down the buildings and prepare that section of the site for reuse as a business park.

Heavener said Warner's provision would speed that up considerably and make it much easier to coordinate the redevelopment with cleanup of contamination.

In July, the FMC Corp. agreed to pay $63 million to complete the cleanup of the site. The company, which is responsible for a share of cleanup costs as a former owner of the plant: will be reimbursed a third of what it spends by three federal agencies under the terms of an earlier court order. Two weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Soccer Federation Foundation announced two $100,000 grants, one for redevelopment efforts and one to help design and build soccer fields at the site.

Wolf said Warner's conference report provision "focuses more attention on the problem."

"There's been a lot of activity lately,' he said. "It's been like, pushing a noodle uphill, but now it’s coming together."

Wolf also said the Corps of Engineers is "excited" about working on the site.

Warner's language calls for the $17 million to be spent to demolish the buildings and for other environmental remediation in the portion of the site containing the buildings.

The Avtex Fibers plant was named to the national Superfund list in 1986. The company voluntarily closed its doors in 1989.