May 27, 1995

Revamped plans for reuse of the former Avtex Fibers plant are on the cutting edge of environmental policy, a local official said Friday.

A proposal to turn some of the plant into industrial space, which would be a first for an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, was jump-started during a meeting Thursday in Philadelphia, said Stephen A. Heavener, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

The meeting among town, EPA and business representatives was the first of all parties involved in the cleanup and resulted in a "positive plan of action," said Frederick W. Foster, head of the Warren County Redevelopment Corporation.

That plan is to test for contamination in the 440-acre area that the corporation wants to divide so rehabilitation and demolition can occur simultaneously, he said.

The EPA plans to tear down about half of the 65 acres of buildings because they're decaying from lack of maintenance.

Foster had said that he was concerned about how demolition would effect the redevelopment effort, but said Friday that he's confident that "partnership" between the two projects will work.

That includes sealing off an interior corridor between the buildings to be saved and to be destroyed and erecting a fence to separate one area from the other, he said. The guardhouse at, the head of the on-site service road would be moved to the EPA cleanup area, he said.

Town officials believe the other half of the building space can be reused because it housed administration, warehousing and shipping functions, rather than chemical handling, when the plant was in operation.

But that area needs to be evaluated for safety, and EPA officials said they will soon begin testing soil and ground water, Foster said.

They will "isolate out and fast-track the remedial investigation at the front part," Heavener said.

Also before the authority can use the buildings, it must be released from liability, Foster said. By next January, parking lots and 400,000 square feet of building space could be turned over to the corporation, he said.