Article date: December 16, 1999

By Teresa Brumback

Anyone thinking of eventually buying property at Avtex or running a business there won’t have to worry about being held liable for nasty surprises stemming from past hazardous waste dumping practices at the site.

A tool that protects future owners and operators of Superfund sites from liability for past, present and future releases of hazardous waste, called the prospective purchaser agreement or "covenant not to sue," has been prepared while cleanup is still underway.

The covenant scuttles the threat of liability that has loomed all the while officials have worked feverishly to turn the site around from a deserted blight on the community toward economic productivity and to fit the bill as a national model for Superfund site redevelopment.

The liability protection agreement is being applied in a rare instance, to the large and complex waste site of Avtex, according to Stephen Heavener, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

The prospective purchaser agreement, or "covenant not to sue" outlined in the Superfund law, known as the comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, is a fairly routine document but is usually applied to smaller waste sites.

"There haven’t been projects of this size," said Heavener. "Most of the covenants have been with 20 to 30 acre sites. Because this is a 500-acre project it’s one of the largest and most complex."

Each agreement is specifically tailored to the site in question.

The EDA will review the proposed agreement on Friday. Drawn up by the U.S. Department of Justice, the agreement must be signed off by the EDA, Warren County Board of Supervisors and Front Royal Town Council before it is valid.

The document is a condition of real estate closing on the property. It is the final piece needed before the EDA can acquire the site. A bankruptcy judge on Nov. 23 cleared the way for the transfer of Avtex from bankruptcy trustee Anthony Murray Jr., Inc., to the EDA.

Local officials initially predicted closing by the end of December. The date has been pushed up to late February or early March because it must be published as a public notice in the Federal Register for 30 days and sent back to the Justice Department for final approval, Heavener said.

Avtex, once the world’s largest producer of high-tenacity rayon used in the aerospace industry, continues to grab national attention.

At the National Brownfields Conference in Dallas Dec. 6-8, Avtex was showcased by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a national demonstration project for recycling Superfund sites, Heavener said. In addition to Heavener, Warren County attorney Douglas Napier attended the conference.

Earlier this month, Heavener also attended a "Smart Growth" conference in San Diego where he said he learned "sustainable technology development techniques" that will be used in remodeling an old office building at Avtex into an attractive building which builds on the original oak parquet floors and wall panels and includes energy efficient devices like solar panels. As well as water saving devices.

He said he learned about how to ensure the business/industrial park would be visually pleasing and consistent with its environment. The trade jargon for it is " eco-industrial park," he said.

"The thing that makes redevelopment of the project different from anything the EDA has ever done before is we are recycling an environmentally damaged property..." as opposed to "buying a farm" and redeveloping it into an industrial site , Heavener said.

"We’re using a premier site in the middle of the community, and the way we redevelop the property will be done in a sustainable development or smart growth technique. Maybe the design is more tied in with nature. We want to integrate it with the natural conservancy area" of the adjacent future riverfront park, he said.

By June or July, the office building will be renovated. EDA and FMC Corp., will move in and share space. Also space in the building will be available for rent.