Source: http://www.meadvilletribune.com, August 16, 2016
By: Keith Gushard
A planned $12 million housing project in Meadville has been set back by the discovery of arsenic on the site earlier this year, but it has not derailed the plans, according to a spokeswoman for its development company.
“Absolutely,” Jocelyn Bos, director of senior housing development for Calamar Inc., said Monday when asked if the firm still plans to go through with the Meadville development. “We are going forward.”
Calamar, based in Wheatfield, N.Y., wants to build a 128-unit independent senior living complex in Meadville on land owned by Crawford County. The company’s target market is those age 55 and older who are living independently.
Calamar has spent about $75,000 on preliminary engineering and other work so far, including soil testing, Bos said. She estimated the total project’s cost — from engineering to land purchase to construction — at $12 million. It would take approximately 15 months to complete once construction starts, she said.
If built, it would be the largest apartment development in the city in the past 40 to 50 years. The last major apartment developments of size were Golf View Manor apartments, Imperial Gardens apartments and Holland Towers, which were completed by the early 1970s.
The project site bound by Arch, Pine, Alfred streets and Burns Avenue on the city’s east side, is part of the former Talon Inc. zipper manufacturing plant. In 2011, the county purchased more than 11 acres once owned by Talon Inc. as a possible building site for courthouse offices. Calamar reached agreement with the county in mid-2015 to buy 4.5 acres of the former Talon Inc. site for $660,000.
But in early 2016, arsenic was discovered in soil samples Calamar had taken as part of its due diligence, or review of all aspects of the property, prior to completing the land purchase.
Soil samples at six locations on site found arsenic levels ranging from 15 to 27 parts per million. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection allows no more than 12 parts per million in soil for residential use and no more than 53 parts per million in soil for industrial use.
Talon Inc. manufactured metal slide fasteners, or zippers, used for clothing and other applications. Arsenic, a naturally occurring but toxic chemical, is used in agriculture, medicine and manufacturing. In manufacturing, arsenic is used to strengthen metal alloys.
“The arsenic is the only concern,” Bos said Monday. “We shared our reports with them (county government officials).”
At their April 13 meeting this year, Crawford County commissioners unanimously approved a one-year extension of the Calamar sales agreement, but the county has to fix the arsenic problem to Calamar’s satisfaction by April 13, 2017. At that same meeting, commissioners hired Porter Consulting Engineers of Meadville at a cost not to exceed $10,000 to help develop a remediation plan for the site.
Meanwhile, the recommendation on how the county should best deal with the arsenic situation is expected to be presented to county commissioners at their Aug. 24 work session.
The county advertised for bids for remediation with a total of five received by the July 29 deadline, according to Zach Norwood, the county’s deputy planning director. The additional soil testing and cleanup of the site is to be completed by March 31, 2017, Norwood said.
According to Norwood, the remediation bids are: KU Resources Inc. of Duquesne at $30,000; Tetra Tech Inc. of Pittsburgh, $32,496; Moody and Associates Inc. of Meadville, $45,300; AMEC Foster & Wheeler of Pittsburgh $48,700; and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff of Pittsburgh, $58,143.
“We extended the time an additional full year, so they have time to take care of the situation,” Bos said. “If they’re willing to work with us, we’ll extend it out as long as needed. The municipalities — the county, the city and the (Crawford Central) school district — have been great to work with.”
For local elected officials, Calamar’s agreement to an extension was good news.
“They’re still willing to give us a year to try to get this worked out — and we appreciate that,” Chairman Francis Weiderspahn Jr. of Crawford County Board of Commissioners said Monday. “We are concerned with the arsenic levels up there. I feel confident we’ll get a plan in place.”
Weiderspahn said he also was gratified Calamar appears willing to continue the extension — if necessary.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to, but I think if we’re making progress and making a good effort to make it usable for them, I think they’ll still work with us,” Weiderspahn said.
However, how the county pays for the cleanup has yet to be determined, Weiderspahn said. Weiderspahn said the county could borrow money from $11 million it has put in short-, medium- and long-term investments and then repay the amount borrowed.
Mayor H. LeRoy Stearns of Meadville said he was excited Calamar still was interested in the city.
“It’s fantastic,” Stearns said. “It’s new housing in an unused area and puts the property back on the tax rolls. We need housing for those 55 and older in the community.”
According to Bos, a housing gap within the city is what attracted the firm to Meadville.
“We think Meadville’s a wonderful market,” Bos said. “Meadville has affordable, subsidized housing and it has a higher end (housing) market, but there’s really nothing in between for the middle income market. It’s an opportunity for us. We’re constantly getting phone calls about the project.”
Calamar also is initiating plans for another possible housing development in the Erie area, Bos said.
“It’s a totally different market than Meadville,” Bos said of Erie. “We see an increase of senior housing (needs) of at least 15 percent in Meadville.”