More efforts are in the works to obtain a cleanup grant for the abandoned Hayswood Hospital building.
Employees with AMEC Earth and Environmental Inc., based in Louisville, did a walk through assessment of the structure Tuesday, according to Maysville City Engineer Sam Baker.
The company is doing a walk through of 11 sites within the Buffalo Trace Area Development District’s coverage area that could benefit from one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Programs, said Jeremy Stamm, economic development specialist for Buffalo Trace ADD.
Parker Tobacco on Maysville’s Forrest Avenue and the former LV Marks Shoe Factory building in Vanceburg are two of the other 10 sites being looked at by the company.
AMEC was hired by the Buffalo Trace ADD, through grant money, to conduct environmental assessments on the locations that could apply for the cleanup grant.
“Basically, this is just the first step in trying to apply for the grant,” Stamm said.
The city has applied several times for a Brownfields grant to help clean up an asbestos problem at Hayswood Hospital. A geological survey was conducted in 2008 to determine the effects of tearing down the building. The survey, ordered by the city, determined that if demolished, Hayswood’s absence posed no threat to the hillside. At that time, it was recommended that if the building was torn down, part of the foundation should be bermed into the hillside.
However, the asbestos would need to be removed from the building, regardless of whether the building was torn down or renovated.
AMEC’s walk through was done to help assess the possible problem areas of asbestos. The company is expected to pursue another phase of the project and bring in a crew to do some testing on the site, according to Stamm.
With more walk throughs left to be conducted at other sites, a time for the testing has yet to be scheduled. Other walk throughs are still pending as Buffalo Trace ADD is still working to acquire owner’s consent to conduct the assessment.
The decaying hospital has been empty for nearly 30 years. It was abandoned after the opening of Meadowview Regional Medical Center. The city has made several unsuccessful attempts to deal with the building for two decades.
Hayswood Hospital was built around 1915 and additions were constructed in 1925 and again in 1971.
Esther Johnson and her company, Classic Properties, acquired the structure at auction in 1994. Plans of turning the building into high-end apartments never came to fruition.
Hayswood underwent an environmental assessment in 2006 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA. AMEC is working off of that assessment to determine that it is still sufficient, according to Baker.
“They’re mainly focusing on the asbestos because it’s the primary contaminant,” Baker said.
The Corps did an extended assessment as part of a Phase I project and ruled out several other possible contaminants at that time, according to Baker.
The assessment is being looked at once again because of plans to apply for the Brownfields cleanup grant. A stipulation of the grant is that the location have an assessment less than two years old.
“It’s really just more of the same,” Baker said of the current work. “It’s another effort we’re making to try to get a cleanup grant.”
Baker said the city didn’t apply for the grant last year because of some changes to the rules.
“Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant,” according to the EPA Web site. Clean up grants can provide up to $200,000 per eligible site to be used to carry out cleanup activities.
Contact Melinda Charles at melinda.charles@lee.net or call 606-564-9091, ext. 274.
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