The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: May 13, 2005

Open house will introduce Avtex’s new face to the community

By William C. Flook

An open house featuring a plethora of speakers and exhibits will mark the transition from cleanup to redevelopment at the Avtex Superfund site on Saturday.

The open house, to be held from noon to 3 p.m. at 400 Kendrick Lane, will be like none other before it, said Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Paul Carroll.

First of all, it makes use of the site’s new working name, Royal Phoenix, instead of Avtex.

“This is going to be once in a lifetime,” said Carroll.  “This is marking the transition that the redevelopment is going forward.”

With cleanup continuing at the once highly polluted site that formerly housed an enormous rayon plant, officials are preparing for the development of a 160-acre business park, a 240-acre conservancy park, and a 30-acre soccer complex.

The open house is largely geared toward local youths, Carroll said, with secondary school students encouraged to attend.  Not only will they have a chance to learn about the wide range of jobs that went into the massive remediation effort, but they will get a better idea of the types of backgrounds that will be required to find jobs at the site once it is redeveloped, he said.

“We need to be ready for it,” Carroll said.  “But we also need to make sure our young people are ready for it.”

The event will honor two people, whose names were not released, who worked to ensure the cleanup of the site went forward, Carroll said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to announce the date of the implosion of the boiler house, the tallest building still standing at the site.

Site tours will also be given.

“ I think the [redevelopment] is moving along extremely well,” said Fork district Supervisor John Vance.  “ I look forward to a really beautiful and functional facility at that site.”

Scheduled to speak at the open house are Front Royal Mayor James M. Eastham, Warren Count Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Carter, and representatives from the Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the offices of Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th, and Sen. George Allen R-Va., the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and FMC Corp. Exhibits are planned by the EDA; FMC Corp; the EPA; the Corps of Engineers; the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; the Lord Fairfax Soil And Water District/Valley Conservation Council; Friends of the Shenandoah River ; the Conversation Research Center; the Shenandoah Center for Heritage and the Environment; North American Realty Advisory Services; HSMM Architects, Engineers and Planners; the Front Royal-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Youth Leadership Program; and the Business Incubation Group.