DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997             TAG: 9704160487

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   48 lines

PORTSMOUTH FAMILIES SCHEDULED TO RELOCATE ON MAY 5 FOR CLEANUP

A moving date of May 5 has been set for 24 Washington Park families who will be moved temporarily during the demolition and cleanup of the old Abex factory site.

Lisa Brown, a community involvement coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia, said that most of the residents will be housed in Traveler's Inn on Effingham Street near the main gate of the Naval Medical Center.

A few of the older residents and people with special health problems will stay in apartments at Harbor Tower, a high-rise apartment building on the downtown waterfront.

The metal-works plant operated at the site from 1928 until 1978, leaving behind lead, zinc and copper residues. After years of wrangling, the EPA and Abex reached agreement on a cleanup plan in January 1996.

The plan calls for tons of contaminated soil to be removed from a 700-foot ring around the abandoned property.

The people who will be relocated live in the public housing units adjacent to the Abex factory, which will be demolished as soon as the tenants are relocated. They will be out of their apartments for five to six weeks during the work.

Brown said a request by some of the residents to delay the work until after school closes for the summer is not feasible.

``We explained to the residents that if the work were not done this spring, it could be delayed until fall when children were just going back to school,'' Brown said. ``We felt the move would be less disrupting at the end of the school year.''

Brown said she would be in Portsmouth Monday to open a Community Involvement and Outreach Site near the area that will be cleared.

She said the office originally was scheduled to open this week but was delayed because of problems in getting a mobile office to the site.

``We will help with relocation problems and provide information for the residents,'' Brown said.

Residents will be paid a daily stipend for meals and other expenses during their relocation. The cost of the relocation will be paid by Abex Corp., which will spend about $21 million to demolish the abandoned plant and clean up the site. ILLUSTRATION: Map

Portsmouth cleanup site

For complete copy, see microfilm

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