THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406170236
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Long
Trees shade the perimeters and, unlike other public housing areas, green grass grows in the courtyards. In the hot humid days of last week, it seemed cool.
{REST} Nearby, handsome new homes are well-kept and manicured. And air conditioned against the weather.
But looks are deceptive.
Life is not so cool for the tenants, many of them longtime residents of the public housing park, or the owners of the homes.
For two years and two months, residents have been roiling around inside over apparently exaggerated reports of the dangers of lead contamination in their neighborhood.
Their concerns have dominated City Council's time for non-agenda speakers week after week, month after month.
Nothing much happens because any action depends on decisions by federal agencies. Basically, the city is powerless to do anything but nag the Environmental Protection Agency. The Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority must abide by rulings at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Both city officials and residents exhibit great frustration over the seeming inability of the federal agencies to move.
At this point, no matter how many people tell residents they are safe from contamination, the residents cannot seem to hear the good news.
A playground, declared safe for children after tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was empty Thursday although the children were out of school.
The city's Leisure Services director, Lydia P. Patton, said recent removal of equipment from the playground was unrelated to the lead situation.
``We found that the equipment was old and unsafe and could not be repaired,'' Patton said. ``We had to take it out for that reason. Now we can't replace it until we find out what is going to happen over there.''
The Public Health Department has said that of several hundred tested, most children living in the area were within normal bounds. Ten of about 300 tests showed ``mildly elevated'' levels of lead and that the level was below the threshhold of medical emergency, the department said.
But Helen Person, a resident and spokesperson for the tenants, believes otherwise. She contends that some children have been damaged by lead poisoning.
``We are fearful for what this is doing to our children,'' she said at a recent City Council meeting. ``We're raising the citizens of tomorrow.''
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has declared that residents of the housing park are not at any health risk.
``There is no indication that anybody is in a dangerous situation,'' Susan Hansen, attorney for the Portsmouth Redevelopment Housing Authority, said Thursday. ``Nobody is at risk.''
The fear of the residents has escalated over the two years and a month since the EPA declared the area a ``Superfund'' cleanup area.
The lead contamination was caused by Abex, a company that operated a brass and bronze factory nearby until 1978. The original cleanup came in 1981, when some trees and topsoil were removed.
Ultimately, Abex will spend $35 million to comply with EPA demands.
City officials seem as frustrated as the residents.
Both City Attorney Stuart Katz and Hansen said they are regularly in touch with the federal agencies.
``Because this is a Superfund site, they drive the action,'' Hansen said.
A temporary cleanup in July 1992 removed the topsoil, and EPA pronounced the area safe for normal activity. EPA officials warned parents to avoid digging deeper than a foot into the ground and to keep their children from putting dirty hands in their mouths.
In the final cleanup, the soil will be removed and replaced down to the water level.
But the final action is pending EPA's release of an amended plan, known as a Record of Decision in the bureaucratic lingo.
``We've been waiting since last year to hear from them on the amended ROD,'' Hansen said. ``Nothing will happen until then.''
EPA officials have said the final draft of the amended ROD could come out by the middle of July, although no specific date has been set.
The new version of the EPA directive would not change plans for the Washington Park public housing.
Rather it would provide for the removal of the private homes and reclassify the property for commercial uses.
``Most of the homeowners agreed to that plan,'' Hansen said. ``The original plan called for their houses to be jacked up and the soil under them to be removed to the water level. Most of them did not like that idea.''
Owners of the private homes would be compensated and relocated under the plan.
Some owners have expressed concerns about the compensation, saying they will be unable to build new homes equal to those they would be leaving.
City Assessor William Froelich said he had reduced assessments by 15 percent on 24 homes after homeowners approached City Council about the taxes they were paying. The average assessed value of the homes at this time is about $56,000.
There is ``no proof,'' he said, that the houses have diminsihed in value because of the lead contamination.
``But some homeowners sought refinancing and the banks wouldn't touch it,'' the assessor said. ``That's when I began to feel we should allow something for the lack of appreciation.''
The work in the public housing park is not apt to occur this year, maybe not even in 1995, Hansen said.
``After we finally receive the amended ROD, we then must submit a design and plans for the cleanup,'' she said. ``The design and plans then must be approved by EPA before the job can be advertised and bid.''
Residents have pressured PRHA and the city to move them from Washington Park to new housing. However, HUD refused to approve that request, stating that no danger existed for residents of the projects.
PRHA has offered to move residents from Washington Park to other public housing, but there have been few takers.
PRHA director Danny Cruce said one person without children was moved to another housing park in December 1993.
``Another woman asked to be moved but turned down the apartment in another neighborhood,'' Cruce said.
Washington Park is a small community of about 450 residents. It has apparently escaped some of the ills of larger public housing parks, making it a desirable location until the excessive anxiety about the lead contamination began in the spring of 1992.
During the final cleanup, some tenants might be moved temporarily, Hansen said.
``But there is no reason to move anyone permanently,'' she said. ``Even now, the hot spots for lead are small area, maybe one square foot. Nobody is at risk.''
{KEYWORDS} LEAD CONTAMINATION
by CNB