January 27, 1995

The closed Avtex Fibers plant could be leased by industry within the year, giving companies a reason to, move to Warren County, a local business official says.

A meeting earlier this week with Avtex’s bankruptcy trustee and owner and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency showed that buildings could be available in six months to one year, said Stephen A. Heavener, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Industrial Development Authority."I felt pretty positive that progress is being made," he said Thursday.

The obstacles to using space at the site, which is an EPA Superfund cleanup site, are more procedural than environmental, Heavener said.

"The reason there were 10 lawyers in the room is the complexity of the thing," Heavener said of the Monday meeting, the first at which all parties met to discuss use of the plant.

The county has no unoccupied facilities available that are appropriate for industrial lease, which discourages companies from moving to the area, he said. With the space the Avtex facility could provide, the area could attract industries more easily, he said.

The buildings at the plant have 2.8 million square feet of space, but 1 million square feet will be torn down because those buildings are in poor condition, Heavener said.

Preferably, he said, the space will be offered to companies in increments of a few hundred thousand square feet, he said.

Although he wouldn't explain the legal and procedural complexities involved, Heavener said last week that before the authority would act as a landlord, it would have to be relieved of liability for possible health or other problems at the site.

Past, current and future user of Superfund sites could be liable for such problems.

"Most of the buildings are not contaminated (but) some ground is," Heavener said Thursday.

Frederick G. Foster, director of the local Redevelopment Corporation that is pushing for reuse of the plant, says 95 percent to 98 percent of the chemicals spilled at the former rayon plant have been removed and the rest should be gone soon.

Although the county has already lost potential business because it lacks empty facilities "we will continue to see opportunity," Heavener said.

"You have to be patient because of the magnitude of the process," he said of making the Avtex site ready for redevelopment.