Hotel cleanup plans revised

Plan adds 15 days for clearing rubble of Spa City’s Majestic

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN --2/28/14--
Firefighters continue to battle the blaze at Hot Springs' historic Majestic Hotel on Friday, while making plans to demolish the building's oldest section in an effort to help protect nearby structures.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN --2/28/14-- Firefighters continue to battle the blaze at Hot Springs' historic Majestic Hotel on Friday, while making plans to demolish the building's oldest section in an effort to help protect nearby structures.

HOT SPRINGS -- A newly revised plan would add 15 days to the cleanup of the Majestic Hotel rubble, according to a copy of the document submitted to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

The latest revision increases the time period for the cleanup to 230 days. The first revision of the cleanup plan called for 215 days.

The original cleanup proposal would have taken 263 days.

Garrison Hassenflu, manager of Park Residences Development LLC, owner of the Majestic Hotel property, originally submitted a cleanup plan to the department in mid-July, but Hot Springs officials said they had "concerns about the amount of time proposed to clean up the debris, and Hassenflu's ability to follow through on his plan."

That plan was submitted by Hassenflu after the department sent him a letter in early June giving him 60 days to clean up the rubble left from the Feb. 27 fire that destroyed the "yellow brick building," the oldest part of the Majestic Hotel complex.

The rubble has remained piled along Park Avenue for six months while various studies were conducted to determine if any hazardous material was contained in the debris.

Hassenflu has told the department that Park Residences Development will "hire a demolition contracting firm to remove the debris from the site.

A Department of Environmental Quality-licensed asbestos contractor will be on-site during debris removal operations in order to segregate and properly containerize any suspect asbestos-containing materials.

"Personnel on-site during all debris removal operations will include a Department of Environmental Quality-certified asbestos inspector," he said.

"Suspect asbestos-containing materials will include materials found to contain asbestos in past asbestos inspection reports and any additional suspect material identified by the asbestos inspector. The segregated waste will be properly manifested and transported to landfills that have been properly notified of the types of waste to be received."

The new revision states that 14 calendar days from receipt of the department's written notice of approval to proceed will be needed to finalize bid documents for removal of the debris, including a written asbestos project design document.

This is an increase from the seven days noted in the first revision.

The number of days needed to select the demolition, abatement and transportation contractors, select the landfill location, approve insurance and licensing submittals, and sign contracts, was lowered from 16 days to nine days, but the number of days need to complete debris removal increased from 60 days in the first revision to 75 days in the new one.

State Desk on 09/02/2014

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