[CPEO-BIF] Sellersville, PA home proposal "on hold"

[Lenny Siegel]

Sellersville 34-home proposal on 'hold'

By Emily Morris
News Herald (PA)
October 11, 2006

Contamination on a site to be developed by Park Ten Inc. of Lansdale 
continues to be a major hurdle for a 34-home development on the site at 
the intersection of Franklin Way, Twelfth and North Main streets in 
Sellersville, which is awaiting final land development plan approval.
Park Ten was supposed to appear before the borough Oct. 9 for a public 
meeting that would welcome comment and concern from area residents - and 
several residents were present for the meeting and prepared to discuss 
concerns about contamination from trichloroethylene (TCE) as well as 
water drainage issues. However, the meeting was postponed until 
council's Nov. 13 meeting because Park Ten still has outstanding issues 
on the contamination, according to Sellersville Borough Solicitor Randal 
White.

"There are still environmental aspects of this project that cause me 
concern," said White to Sellersville Borough Council at its Oct. 9 meeting.

White and Joel Bolstein, an environmental attorney with White's office, 
have been in constant contact with Park Ten's attorney, environmental 
attorney and environmental consultant.

The concern is related to the borough's Well Number 5. The Park Ten site 
was used as a radium-processing facility from 1914 to 1917 and also 
served as a landfill in the mid-1900s. The site is contaminated with 
TCE, as is the borough's Well Number 5, a substance which is usually 
linked with previous industrial activity and can be a threat to human 
health to those exposed to the vapors on a long-term basis. The Park Ten 
site has gone through environmental cleanup since 1996 with the state 
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). At that time, 
lead-contaminated soils and lower and higher-activity radioactive soils 
were removed at a cost of nearly $6.2 million, according to DEP's Web 
site. Park Ten paid $62,000 reimbursement to DEP for its portion of 
cleanup costs.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17312615&BRD=1306&PAG=461&dept_id=187826&rfi=6

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org