Asbestos fears delay demolition of drug houses

HAINES CITY, Florida - A pair of reputed drug houses can not be scheduled for demolition until the results of asbestos tests are returned, say officials in the small town of Haines City. The two houses, located at 1102 Avenue G and 1607 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, sit side by side in the Oakland neighborhood. They were seized by the city after city attorneys proved in court that they were the sites of criminal activity. Demolition of existing drug houses is a common measure in the fight against crime in inner city locations. This time, though, officials were in for an unexpected surprise. While demolition crews stood ready to start dismantling the houses, a city worker recognized asbestos shingles on the two structures. Because federal law requires special measures to be taken when demolishing a building that contains asbestos, demolition was halted until the city can determine how to deal with the asbestos in the buildings. Both buildings share an owner, Patricia Anthony. Since the city seized the houses, “No Trespassing” signs have been posted, along with a sign informing neighbors that the houses were seized because of the known drug activity that took place thee. Those signs may soon be joined by a third one informing neighbors about asbestos removal about to take place. The city contracted with a company from Tampa that specializes in asbestos testing. Samples were taken Friday. The city is now awaiting results of those tests before making any further decisions about the properties. Assistant City Manger Ken Sauer says that he expects the results back by the end of the week, but wouldn’t be surprised for those results to be delayed because of the holidays. Until the results are known, the city can’t make further plans. Asbestos removal can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price tag for demolition. “It will happen pretty quickly after that,'’ Sauer said. “We will get it scheduled and tear it down.'’ The special handling is necessary because asbestos can create a serious health hazard when it’s disturbed. Demolition usually results in dust and debris. When the property being demolished was built before 1980, there’s a good chance that that dust will contain high concentrations of asbestos, a mineral that was once widely used in construction. Many uses of asbestos have been banned by the United States, and others are highly regulated after it became generally known that asbestos dust causes a rare but nearly always deadly form of cancer, mesothelioma. In addition, inhaling asbestos can cause many other lung diseases, including lung cancer. When asked, the city manager, Ann Toney-Deal, said that the city will still go ahead with the demolition if the buildings are found to contain asbestos. They’ll use a method of demolition known as “wet” demolition. The wet demolition method uses water to keep asbestos dust down at demolition. The city has used wet demolition in the past to tear down two old buildings in Oaland in the past couple of years. The wet method was also recently used to demolish an old office building in Forth Worth, Texas, raising a lot of questions and concerns about its use in crowded neighborhoods. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)