NORWAY — An environmental group has found no significant environmental problems at the former Color Center property at 250 Main St.

“This site looks great,” Rich Campbell, president of Campbell Environmental Group, told selectmen during a recent public hearing to release the study results.

The Color Center housed paints and solvents before it was destroyed by fire in 2003. The site showed a potential for “limited to moderate threat to human health and the environment,” the study said.

Some substances were found in the groundwater and soil but the levels of concentrations will be safe unless disturbed, Campbell said. “No one’s at risk,” he said.

The recently completed second phase of the environmental review was requested in December to determine the potential impact of chemicals released during the fire and any off-site impacts from an adjacent gasoline station.

Town Manager David Holt said Wednesday that after the fire, the town was doing a sewer project and in order to fill in the hole left by the burned structure and get rid of excavated soil and debris, town officials decided to put the soil in the foundation hole and cover it. The property is owned by Arnold Pendexter Jr. of Oxford.

While the intention at the time seemed good to resolve several problems, Holt said in retrospect a different decision may have been made had they known the potential future consequences.

“We live and learn,” he said.

Officials said the concern was that any environmental problems at the Color Center site could impact the basement of an adjacent building, utility manholes in the Main and Greenleaf streets area and Bird Brook, which is about 200 feet down grade of the property.

The first phase of the study, which was concluded last year, included a  historical and records review of the property and interviews to determine what activities occurred on the site and the type, quantity and extent of potential contamination that could potentially pose environmental concerns.

The voluntary study in part helps communities address the issue of redevelopment of vacant or underutilized commercial and industrial sites.

Campbell has recommended that future excavated soils be monitored for contamination and that the Department of Environmental Protection be notified if monitoring results exceed notification levels. The owner could also apply to the state for limited liability protection.

The site has also had a variety store, drug store, gift shop and restaurant from the 1950s through 1972. It is now a gravel lot.

The study was funded by a $200,000 federal grant to the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, which hired Campbell Environmental Group.

Although no cleanup funds are available for private land owners, the program does provide the owner with a letter that clears the land for certain activity under the Voluntary Response Action program.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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