If a building falls in a long vacant property, it turns out some will hear (or at the very least, see) it.
Glenville police were informed a building partially collapsed at the former Scotia Navy Depot on Sunday, July 15, according to Glenville Supervisor Christopher Koetzle. Now, the town is calling on federal officials to demolish the former administration and commissary building. Federal officials toured the property on Thursday, July 19, to assess the property.
Public Works Commissioner Thomas Coppola said the town secured the area as much as possible on July 15. Building Inspector Paul Borisenko deemed the building unsafe.
“There was too much weight bearing, probably from the last rain storm we had, and it collapsed in the center of the building,” Coppola said.
Police tape was placed around the building and the unsecured front gate was locked with a chain, Coppola said.
“There is no immediate hazards to any residents,” Koetzle said on Wednesday, July 18. “Everything seems to be contained at this point and I think we will have a plan tomorrow for going forward with cleanup of that building.”
Town Director of Operations James MacFarland received initial remediation plans from the U.S. General Services Administration, the federal government’s landlord, on Friday, July 20. GSA hired a contractor to install a fence around the collapsed building on July 20.
“The GSA team is evaluating options for the collapsed building and will develop a plan,” MacFarland said. “They did take some pretty quick action to secure the site.”
GSA is expected to contact the town again this week. MacFarland said the town has determined demolition is necessary, but asbestos in the building will complicate the process.
“They can’t just do a simple demolition, they have to do asbestos remediation at the same time they would be doing the demolition,” he said. “We can appreciate that it will take a little bit of time to get that in order.”
The GSA owns the approximately 60-acre property where the building collapsed. The Navy Depot was commissioned in 1943 to store items for national defense, such as boilers, turbines and reduction gear, according to state Department of Environmental Conservation records. After the Vietnam War, most Navy functions there ended.
After the chemical trichloroethylene, or TCE, was discovered in the City of Schenectady and Town of Rotterdam well fields, the state Department of Health in 1991 tested private residential wells alongside Route 5 near the Navy Depot. The municipal well fields contained less than 1 parts-per-billion of the chemical, with state drinking water standards at 5 ppb, but some residential well water samples contained up to 320 ppb. Affected residents were then connected to public water.
County officials previously said TCE was identified 70 feet below the surface of the site. The plume, according to DEC tests, is within a portion of the Great Flats Aquifer Protection Zone and is headed toward the Mohawk River. The aquifer is the underground water supply providing drinking water to almost all Schenectady County residents.
Often, TCE is used in solvents for industrial purposes as a degreaser and past dumping practices are attributed to the local contamination.
Last October, GSA signed a Federal Facility Site Remediation agreement with the DEC to move forward with clean up plans. County officials touted the agreement as critical to maintaining the county’s water supply.
Town officials said little work has been done since last October.
In order to clean up the area, the GSA will install a zero valent iron permeable reactive barrier beneath the surface of the affected area, which is estimated to cost $3 to $4 million. This method has been successfully used to stop TCE plumes and break down the chemical to eliminate any health threats.
Koetzle said the transfer of the property to the county is going through “the red tape,” but he’s hopeful work will start soon.
Schenectady County Economic Development and Planning Ray Gillen said the design phase to tackle the plume is ongoing. The county obtained quotes from two separate demolition firms and both were around $800,000 to demolish all the buildings on site, according to Gillen. The collapsed building could increase demolition costs, because asbestos removal will be more complicated.
“We have been in constant contact with GSA and DEC to make sure this project keeps moving forward,” Gillen said in an email. “The county and town officials met with GSA in Boston to keep pushing forward with the environmental solution needed at the former Depot.”
Gillen said Glenville officials “acted swiftly” to declare the collapsed building as unsafe. He said GSA and Rep. Paul Tonko’s office were sent a notice the same day the town declared it unsafe.
“Congressman Tonko’s office immediately contacted GSA officials in Albany, Boston and Washington to make sure that the building was secured and properly dealt with,” Gillen said in an email. “GSA officials came on site and secured the buildings and they are now working on the best approach to (demolish) and clean up of the structure.”
