Asbestos stalls rehab at Lowry

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Colorado
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Asbestos stalls rehab at Lowry
Colorado, military in standoff over danger of debris
By Todd Hartman
March 15, 2004

An environmental dispute between Colorado regulators and the military is
stalling one of the country's most promising base redevelopments and
could add billions of dollars to the cost of such projects nationally.

At the former Lowry Air Force Base on the eastern fringes of Denver, the
battle is over a low-risk contaminant: trace levels of asbestos in the
soil. But the ramifications of the feud are significant.

Already, the problem has cost developers millions of dollars, chased
away one builder, led home buyers to cancel contracts and jeopardized
future work on a swath of the base. Most of all, it has put a smudge on
what's billed as a prototype for converting aging military facilities to
showcase urban neighborhoods.

The clash began last spring. That's when excavators found
asbestos-covered debris left over from long-ago demolished military
buildings in an area slated for $400,000 homes.

The finding alarmed state regulators, who quickly halted construction on
a corner of the 1,866-acre base while they tried to get a handle on the
problem. The area in question stretches from East Eighth Avenue on the
south to East 11th Avenue on the north and from Quebec Street on the
west to Ulster Way on the east.

Now, millions of dollars later, land developers - bowing to state orders
- are hauling away truckloads of asbestos-tainted soil as they prepare
new homesites. In several cases, freshly landscaped yards are being torn
out. Workers with respirators and wheelbarrows shovel out the dirt in
200-square-foot grids.

"It's been painful," said Eric Wittenberg, president and chief executive
of McStain Neighborhoods, a Boulder-based home builder that has spent
$2.7 million clearing asbestos-tainted soil at Lowry. "We've been
blessed with some very patient homeowners who put up with a lot."

This article can be viewed at:
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2729999,00.html

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