LEWISTON — City officials will meet with downtown housing advocates to discuss their efforts to keep lead dust from demolished buildings landing on neighbors.
City Councilor Craig Saddlemire said he wanted to see city efforts to cut down on lead dust from city demolition projects extended to private contractors. He also asked city staff and fellow councilors to review national studies on lead poisoning and for more lead testing downtown.
“We can say the dust we see now is mostly insulation and there’s no lead-containing dust, but we don’t know unless we do testing before and after demolition,” Saddlemire said.
Lewiston code officials have been working to identify and demolish dangerous and unstable tenements in the downtown, working from a list of up to 80 condemned or vacant buildings.
Norm Beauparlant, Lewiston’s director of budget and purchasing, said the city removes asbestos and other hazardous material before the demolition work goes out to bid. The demolition contractor is required to keep the building wet while it’s torn down and again while the rubble is hauled away.
“We worked very hard in 2012, right into the first month of 2013, and took down 13 structures,” Beauparlant said. “For the most part, we kept water on them until the temperatures fell below 32 degrees.”
The city also works with Healthy Androscoggin to warn neighbors of the buildings to keep their windows closed while the work continues. The city distributes brochures to all neighbors within 300 feet of the demolitions, urging them to leave their shoes outside to keep demolition dust out and to clean with water if they notice heavy, dusty build-up afterward.
City Administrator Ed Barrett said he did not know whether those requirements could be extended to contractors hired by private property owners to demolish their buildings. That might be governed by state building codes.
“The safest way to go is to approach the state and see if they could amend their code to require mitigation be done for dust during demolition,” Barrett said.
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