Mat Maid asbestos payoff rankles residents

PALMER -- Several independent and professional investigations into the asbestos removal project conducted by Heritage Properties in the Matanuska Maid Farmer's Co-op building prior to the February 2003 that destroyed the building have raised hackles among Valley residents.

Rumors of possible scandals surrounding the asbestos removal are rife, but all records seem to agree on one point: Heritage was granted $123,800 by the Division of Agriculture to remove asbestos in the building. Heritage was given the property free of charge in a December 2000 Request for Proposal agreement.

However, an asbestos abatement had already been performed in the building six years earlier. What remained was only a small amount located under floor tiles, according to Cecilia Hidalgo with Alaska Pollution Control. "Most of the asbestos had been removed already, but the floor tiles hadn't been removed," Hidalgo said.

Records uncovered by Dennis Wheeler, the assistant state district attorney who is conducting an investigation of the matter, confirm this.

"There had been some remediation, but not a complete remediation," Wheeler said.

However, according to Mark Loomis of Palmer, "what was left in there was so minimal that you could've just painted over it or covered it up."

Fran Seager-Boss of the Palmer Historical Society concurred with this sentiment. "It was understood [at the time of the auction] that the asbestos abatement had been taken care of."

Loomis attributes Heritage's ability to acquire the building free of charge to their inflation of the asbestos issue.

"Everyone who picked up a bid document knew about the asbestos," he said. "Heritage just made such a big stink about it that the state gave them all that money and the title."

Jim McCollum of Heritage claimed in an April 22, 2003, public comment session regarding the property: "Heritage has done a lot of work. They have essentially completed the asbestos removal in the building that burned down. The project was cleaned up in accordance with state law."

However, Wheeler's records seem to contradict this statement. In order for asbestos abatement to take place, the company contracted to perform the abatement must register the event with the Environmental Protection Agency and record the deposit of the harmful material in a licensed landfill. Wheeler's investigation shows that "EPA doesn't indicate that they have any records of asbestos removal occurring [on that site]." Wheeler also contacted landfills around the Valley to inquire about asbestos deposits.

"The landfills told me that they hadn't received any asbestos from that site," Wheeler said. According to Wheeler, Heritage claims that the material had been sent to an independent landfill near Chugiak; however, he has not yet turned up any records of this.

Heritage is reluctant to reveal any details about the alleged abatement.

"Yes, there was $123,000.00, plus or minus a few dollars paid … But there's no provision that says we have to account and show every dollar we've spent. This isn't a state grant," Jim McCollum is recorded as stating during the April comment session.

The entire asbestos transaction makes many Valley residents suspicious. "This is so dirty and slimy," Gary Wolf of Palmer said. "They got all this money to do asbestos abatement and then the building burned down."

Several weeks prior to the February fire, Heritage had made plans to turn the Co-op building into a historic hotel. Three juveniles were tried in the arson case. Questions have arisen since the fire about what will become of the property, but Heritage is equally reticent about their intentions. Asked whether the corporation's plans would change following the destruction of the Co-op building by fire, McCollum said, "The schedule was on schedule. There was no change. We were on schedule. We were talking to the planning department. What's to change? We didn't promise an apartment building or an office building. That's within our discretion."

Lee Realty in Palmer is currently offering the lot up for sale at a cost of $650,000.

No solid decisions have been made by officials examining the Matanuska Maid case yet, but if the suspicions harbored by Loomis, Wolf and other Valley residents concerned with the property prove to have solid foundations, there could be some considerable changes on the way for the lot at 325 E. Dahlia.