CLARION, Pa (EYT) — Clarion County Commissioners continue to pursue plans for the construction of a new Office of Emergency Services (OES) and 911 building following at 2-1 vote on Wednesday morning.
Efforts to put a lid on an abandoned gas well on county property were also discussed.
Commissioners Butch Campbell and Wayne Brosius voted to approve a proposal submitted by EADS Architects, Inc., of Altoona, for a preliminary design for a new OES facility at a location to be determined at a cost of $38,000.00 for the design. Commissioner Greg Faller voted “no.”
“We’re not ready to have them start today, but we hope to before the next Commissioner’s meeting, so that’s why it’s being put on the agenda today,” said Campbell as he introduced the motion.
“We’re still looking at a couple of sites to do this, but have narrowed it down considerably. We are trying to move forward with this because of issues of the old jail. This will be taken from the designs that were done for the annex, altering them to fit the structure as needed.”
Asked by Cindy Curran at the close of the meeting why Faller voted “no,” he explained, “On this one here, I don’t feel we are ready to spend that money for a preliminary design when we haven’t come up with a definite site. There are other sites available, and to do a preliminary design at this time would be premature. It would be different if two sites were equal or similar. We are going to have to spend money to do it and design it, but we’re not there yet. We do have a need, and we do need to do something with our 911 Center, but I don’t think we’ve really looked at all the options enough to go to the step for the preliminary design.”
Campbell didn’t have any cost estimates for the building and won’t until a design is finished and a location is picked. The design for the new building is expected to utilize what EADS designed for the Annex and “putting it into the square footage needed for the new building.”
The Commissioners are looking at multiple sites and looking at possible costs associated with each site. However, Campbell clearly listed what he sees as advantages of building a new building behind the old jail along Wood Street that would still face Madison Street and stretch to North Jefferson Place as far as zoning would permit.
“Building behind the old jail would include construction costs but entail no acquisition costs of land, no new generator or moving the generator, and no tower for conductivity because all those things are already in place,” said Campbell. “At a new location, we’re going to have to look at land development, construction costs, alternate power supply costs, and conductivity to Trinity Point.”
Campbell said EADS has said it is possible to build behind the jail, and the only reservation might be over the abandoned gas well, but the structure would not cover that part of the property.
“In discussion with EADS and DEP, even if the well is plugged, they highly recommend against building anything on it because of creating a potential hazard in the future.”
The “Well” Situation
Campbell offered some background on the abandoned well on the site next to the old jail.
“It was discovered in 1993 and reported to DEP, and they did an inspection and investigation of the well and recommended that it be put on the plug-in list,” said Campbell. “Today, we can’t find any record of it being put there. In looking at potential sites for the new 911 OES Center, it was discovered that the well was there, and nothing had been done about it. We brought EADS into look at it, as required, and DEP was there. We have discovered the well; it was about four feet down in the ground. DEP and EADS representatives said it’s only the second well they have ever seen with a wooden top casing around it. A considerable amount of it was still intact. Once we located it and dug down to it, you could see down the well shaft about four feet. Once that was accomplished, there was a large pipe put around it, and it was back-filled and a steel plate placed on top of it.”
In terms of what future actions can be taken regarding the well, Campbell said DEP offered several options, as follows:
- We could leave it alone and just forget about it.
- The County could spend the money and plug it. (Campbell said he wasn’t in favor of this option.)
- The well put on the orphan or abandoned well program, and at a point in time, DEP would come on the property, analyze the situation, and eventually get around to plug-in.
- The County is also pursuing Act 13 funds, money that has been set aside by the state to deal with these type of wells.
“At this point in time, the only cost to the company has been and will be the cost of digging up the well locating it,” said Campbell.
Commissioners unanimously approved a new contractual consent of landowner with DEP to enter upon and use the land for purposes of conducting well clean out and plugging activities, effective March 25, 2015 to March 25, 2016.
