 |
|
|
UER Store
|
|
sweet UER decals:
|
|
|
|
Activity
|
|
549 online
Server Time:
2024-05-08 08:29:09
|
|
|
 Intrinsic
      
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
 |  | [Media] Asbestos halts Rosberg demolition (Niagra Falls)
< on 2/2/2010 2:50 PM >
|  | | | Before fire...
After fire...
NIAGARA FALLS — Asbestos in the burned-down Rosbergs building halted demolition of what's left of the Queen St. landmark for the winter.
Now, officials familiar with the project say it could be May before what's left is completely knocked down.
"Environmental issues" and "weather impediments," are responsible for the delay in demolition, said Mordechai Grun, whose Historic Niagara Development company owns the site and 60 other downtown properties.
"The holdup is the environmental issues and figuring out how to exactly deal with them," he said in a phone interview Monday.
"We were just very, very careful as soon as someone realized there was a potential environmental hazard."
It has been close to four months since a deliberately-set Oct. 4 fire gutted the vacant department store Mayor Ted Salci described as the "grand dame of Queen St."
The main entrance at the corner of Queen St. and Erie Ave. remains intact, surrounded by steel girders and an elevator shaft. A construction fence surrounds the site, but there hasn't been any sign of anyone inside for weeks.
In the days after the fire, the city issued a demolition permit to raze the whole site, said John Castrilli, the city's building services director. The delay has been frustrating for the city.
"From my perspective, there's nothing more we would like to see than that building come down," Castrilli said.
Demolition ground to a halt Oct. 28, when Ministry of Labour investigators received a complaint about asbestos exposure.
Ministry officials told Historic Niagara to survey the site for asbestos, a process that involves laboratory testing of debris from the site to assess how much asbestos fibre might be present.
Asbestos was commonly used for insulation until the 1970s. Builders stopped using it after learning airborne particles cause lung cancer or breathing problems for people who inhale them. Older buildings have asbestos, which is harmless until it's broken and its fibres get into the air.
Historic Niagara was advised to complete a Type 3 removal of asbestos, the most onerous of three processes in Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act.
"We just simply advised them a Type 3 removal should take place," ministry spokesman William Line said.
The law requires a Type 3 removal before demolishing any building in which asbestos was used and not cleaned up prior to 1986. Rosbergs store opened in 1919 and has been vacant since its 1988 closure.
It requires a decontamination facility on site. Water must be used constantly to wash particulate away, then the water must be collected and filtered. Workers have to wear special suits and be hosed off before they leave the site.
Because the removal work requires flowing water, it can't begin until the temperature is regularly above the freezing mark, said Philip Peptone, a director with Civic Construction.
"Everyone is waiting to see when we're going to start," he said. "They asked us only when the weather has gone above zero (Celsius) because you're required to use water at all times. That's the main factor."
For now, the site is secured but nothing is happening.
City officials took precautions to ensure the asbestos isn't a risk to the public, Castrilli said.
They hired a private company to test the air around the old department store. They even considered rerouting November's Santa Claus parade away from the corner of Queen St. and Erie Ave. They were also concerned about the health of city workers who pass Rosbergs every day when they walk between a parking lot and city hall.
After the tests, "we got a clean bill of health," Castrilli said.
Arson was determined to be the cause of the fire, according to investigators in the Ontario Fire Marshal's office. They turned it over to the Niagara Regional Police arson unit. There's "nothing new" in that investigation, said NRP spokesman Const. Nilan Dave.
Investigators are working on the case and want to talk to anyone with information about the fire.
Source
|
|
Snickerpuss
Location: Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | Re: [Media] Asbestos halts Rosberg demolition (Niagra Falls)
<Reply # 1 on 3/13/2010 9:42 PM >
| | | | Im a Niagara Region resident and I never even herd of this building? Strange.
|
|
GORE
Location: Niagara region
Gender: Male
| | Re: [Media] Asbestos halts Rosberg demolition (Niagra Falls)
<Reply # 2 on 3/14/2010 5:04 AM >
| | | | Thanks for the update,
I wondered what was taking them so long to get this place cleaned up.
The building was well known, but to my knowledge was not accessible (which may be why you might not have been familiar with it Snickerpuss)
Here is some video from the interior that was shot in 2008: http://www.youtube...zQ&feature=related
If anyone is interested in coverage of the fire and some historical photos and stories here is full coverage from CHCH news.
Full coverage from CHCH News.
Clips aired from Oct 04-15 2009
Youtube link: http://www.youtube...atch?v=CmqAMixAdH8
|
|
xXxFreakkShoww
Location: New York
Gender: Female
| | Re: [Media] Asbestos halts Rosberg demolition (Niagra Falls)
<Reply # 3 on 4/5/2010 6:23 PM >
| | | | Thank you for this information
I drove by the site just yesterday and was wondering the same thing
You be the anchor that keeps my feet on the ground, I'll be the wings that keeps your heart in the clouds <3 |
|
Jono
civilly disobedient.
| |  | Re: [Media] Asbestos halts Rosberg demolition (Niagra Falls)
<Reply # 4 on 4/6/2010 2:35 PM >
| | | | Interesting, thanks for the link. I was by there late last year, and assumed at first sight that the place would be leveled ASAP; guess not!
j->
www.sacramentalperception.com : www.jonathancastellino.com |
|
|
|
All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site:
UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service |
View Privacy Policy |
Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 189 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 741009137 pages have been generated.
|
|
