LEBANON — The discovery of industrial contaminants at Lebanon’s former public works facility is delaying the property’s sale to a Vermont developer who hopes to build a four-story mixed-use building on the site.
The city plans to pay $700,000 to rid 20 Spencer St., a roughly two-acre parcel bordering the Northern Rail Trail, of polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly called PCBs.
The group of chemicals, which were banned in 1979, were used in electrical, heating and hydraulic equipment, along with some plastic and rubber products.
PCBs are slow to break down, and there’s evidence they may cause cancer, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Lebanon City Manager Shaun Mulholland said last week that he hopes a cleanup can commence “before the snow flies” this fall. Once that’s complete, the city can sell the site to Stowe, Vt., firm The Braverman Co. for $1.5 million.
“We have to be able to have a clean site for the land deal with Braverman,” Mulholland told the City Council on Wednesday. “That’s what we have promised.”
But, officials warn, the unexpected cleanup costs could require the city to forgo some planned infrastructure improvements.
While upgrades to Spencer Street are still underway, Mulholland said, a $170,000 plan to repave the rail trail from Spencer Street to Bank Street Extension is now on hold.
That project, which would have been paid using profits from the Spencer Street property’s sale, sought to make the rail trail more inviting to people using wheelchairs and more resistant to storm damage.
The City Council last year picked Braverman to build a 103,400-square-foot building on the Spencer Street property that was declared surplus in 2012, shortly after public works moved into its new facility on Route 4.
The new building will include 94 apartments, s 4,500 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 146 on-site parking spaces.
At least 5% of units, or about 4 apartments, are to be affordable to those making 80% of the area median income — about $74,100 for a family of four living in Grafton County.
Another 5% of units will be set aside for those who earn 100% of the area median income, or $92,600.
Once complete, officials estimate, the development is expected to be valued at $18 million and contribute about $580,000 a year to the downtown’s tax increment finance district, which is dedicated to funding infrastructure projects in the neighborhood.
At the time, Braverman also impressed city officials with an option to purchase neighboring 10 Spencer St., where it pitched turning an existing freight house into a beer garden, brewpub or restaurant.
But after the city approved a deal with the developer last September, soil samples collected during demolition of the old public works building showed “low concentrations containing PCBs,” according to a memo written by Jim Donison, Lebanon’s public works director, and City Engineer Brian Vincent.
Further investigations then found about 550 cubic yards, or 825 tons, of soil was contaminated at depths between one and nine feet.
All of that material will now have to be excavated and shipped to a hazardous materials landfill in Michigan, the memo said.
The City Council plans to allocate money, which will come from surplus funds, for the cleanup during its Wednesday, Sept.. 1 meeting.
Ken Braverman, owner of The Braverman Co., told councilors last week that he’s “eager” to move forward with the project,
“Obviously, these changes were unexpected and I commend Shaun (Mulholland) and his team for being patient and persevering,” he said. “It’s important that this get done thoughtfully and in a way that will allow for (development).”
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.