Zanesville, OH – Aging houses constructed prior to the 1980s usually contain carcinogenic asbestos material that were used in certain insulation, plasters, tiles, piping, joint compounds and paints. Apart from this health risk, these houses are also giving a headache to the local officials when thinking about paying for removing the dangerous material from them as they have been slated for demolition. The expense of the demolition process, especially the task of asbestos removal, may probably derail the plans to tear down up to 40 homes in the area this year under the grant program of the state known as “Moving Ohio Forward Demolition.” Officials said this on Tuesday. Muskingum County got a grant commitment of $445,425 from the office of the Ohio AG (Attorney General) in year 2012. The county is sharing this money with the city. So far eight city houses have been torn down. According to Sheila Samson, the County Community Development Coordinator, she has submitted documents for reimbursement of grant for the initial 6 projects. Samson is supervising the local tasks. Tim Smith, the Chief Code Enforcement Officer of Zanesville, also has filed documentations for 2 more projects. “However, what we understand is that removal of asbestos is very expensive. We are afraid we won’t be able to hit our target of 40 house demolitions,” Samson said. She noted that the average asbestos abatement & demolition price for the initial batch of houses was $9454 each. Smith says even though the initial estimates called for up to 40 home demolitions, now it may possibly be reduced to as less as 15. The average expense for removing asbestos material from aging buildings that Smith usually deals with prior to their demolition is approximately $15000, he said. A project among these cost US$21400 as it contains far more asbestos material than anticipated earlier. Smith has 4 more houses slated for tearing down. Their demolitions are on hold due to above-average costs. “Because of high expense, 3 or 4 homes won’t be demolished as we had planned earlier,” Smith said. He has also been looking into the option that a number of proposed demolition projects could be qualified for housing exemptions from Ohio EPA that requires minimum 500 ft buffer between residences and the nearby asbestos abatement site. According to Smith, it won’t be an issue for certain targeted houses in the Muskingum County due to more clearance between the structures.
