The plan to hit a small road bump last week after environmental inspectors discovered asbestos in the adhesive beneath the tile flooring, officials said.
A mandatory inspection of the 60-year-old Eastmond Pavilion was being conducted last week ahead of its planned demolition, which will now be delayed by at least a few days after inspectors discovered asbestos in the adhesive used to lay down the vinyl flooring and the borough awaits a permit from the state to remove the potentially harmful material, Mayor George Dempsey said Wednesday. The permit could take as many as ten days to arrive, he said.
At Monday’s Borough Council meeting, the council passed a resolution 5-1 authorizing the remediation of the asbestos before the building can be demolished. Councilwoman Patricia Connolly, an outspoken critic of the pavilion project, cast the lone vote against the measure.
The inspectors found asbestos beneath roughly 1800 square feet of flooring, Council President Jeff Lee said Wednesday. The removal process, which will be handled by Colts Neck-based Ace Insulation Co., will cost the borough $6.37 per square foot, putting the total at just under $12,000, said Lee, the Beach Committee chair. The job should take no longer than two days to complete, Dempsey said.
“It was not a danger to anybody, but it has to be remediated before we can demolish the building because once you start knocking it down, the asbestos is friable and it gets in the air and it becomes a hazard,” Councilman Edward Donovan, the Public Works Committee chair, said on Wednesday.
Connolly, in an email Wednesday, said the asbestos removal just adds more money to a project that, in her opinion, was not needed.
"The old building withstood storms and hurricanes for over 60 years and could be renovated; a new building is a symbol of out of control spending during these difficult economic times," she said.
The borough had on Main Street and Beachfront by the end of the month and for the beginning of the 2013 beach season. Trailers will temporarily house Beach Patrol operations for the 2012 summer season, officials have said.
