AUBURN – With just weeks left before she must move to make way for an expansion of the Auburn Mall, Lisa Fortier continues to frantically search for a new apartment.
But now the single mother of three has a new worry: asbestos.
To prepare for demolition, workers have removed pieces of the floors in her current apartment looking for asbestos, a fire-resistant material that used to be used in construction. When airborne and inhaled, it can cause cancer and lung disease.
Fortier said workers took chunks out of the floor in her kitchen, laundry room and in the bedroom of her 7-year-old son. Although the building’s owner said there is no danger, she worries the work could expose her children to asbestos.
“We just want out,” Fortier said.
In December, Fortier, 34, learned that she and two other tenants were being evicted from their 985 Turner St. apartment building to make way for an expansion of the Auburn Mall by developer George Schott. She got the news when she came home from work and found her house spray painted for demolition. A few days later, she awoke to crews tearing down trees and her children’s playground equipment.
Schott, who became the apartment’s official owner Dec. 1, said the demolition companies moved more quickly than he expected, and that Fortier should have been notified before the building was marked and the yard cleared.
Fortier was given 60 days to get out, with a deadline of early February. Legally, she can stay until then, although she said she was asked to leave by early January.
Her plight was featured in the Sun Journal shortly before Christmas. Strangers quickly flooded her with offers of money, Christmas gifts for her children and leads on apartments for rent.
Fortier said she was overwhelmed by the generosity.
“It’s just been amazing,” she said. “I just don’t know how to thank everybody for their support and concern.”
Although she’s received numerous apartment offers, she said all have turned out to be too small, too expensive or unsanitary. She continues to search for a three-bedroom place for $750 a month or less.
In the meantime, Schott asked workers to inspect the building for asbestos. He said the state requires such a survey because demolition could kick up asbestos and make it airborne, posing a danger to anyone who inhales it.
He needed the inspection done now, he said, so he could estimate the cost of dealing with the material.
He said the work, which included removing chunks of flooring from areas possibly containing asbestos, poses no danger to Fortier or her children. “Absolutely not.”
Fortier isn’t so certain. She said she’s contacted Pine Tree Legal Assistance to find out about her legal rights.
But for now, Fortier and her kids are staying in the apartment. And the search for a new home continues.
“We’re in limbo,” she said.
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