Joy Park mold cleanup set

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Thu, Apr. 25, 2002

Joy Park mold cleanup set

Akron housing authority will pay for residents to move during health-risk

check

By Bob Downing

Beacon Journal staff writer

The Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority plans to remove residents from 67

apartments at its Joy Park complex to make sure no health-threatening mold

is in 16 previously renovated buildings.

The project will likely cost $2 million, or nearly 20 percent of the

agency's annual capital improvements budget, officials said.

Going back to make sure mold is not a problem was deemed ``to be the prudent

thing to do,'' in the wake of mold problems two years ago in other buildings

at Joy Park in southeast Akron, said executive director O'Leary.

Those 16 buildings had been renovated before mold problems were found.

O'Leary said the new project was ``unfortunate... but necessary,'' because

AMHA wants to assure tenants that the buildings are free of mold.

``This latest cleanup is part of our ongoing commitment to make certain our

residents are living in the safest conditions possible, he said.

O'Leary said there is no evidence of mold causing health problems for any

tenants at Joy Park, but air sampling indicated that there was some mold

infestation in four occupied apartments there.

That testing was done after tenants had moved out and none had complained of

mold or health problems, he said.

The latest work is expected to begin about June 1 and will likely take three

to four months to complete, he said.

The renovation and environmental work will be done for AMHA by two

contractors. The companies have not yet been selected.

Cleanup involves removing all drywall and cabinets, applying a mold-killing

biocide to what was behind the drywall, applying a paintlike sealer to cover

any mold residue and testing the air to assure that molds have been

eliminated.

Workers will refinish those apartments by installing new drywall and

finishing up the interior work.

That work will enable the agency to assure tenants that the buildings are

free of mold, barring water damage that can trigger mold problems, O'Leary

said.

AMHA's plans are to be outlined to residents at three meetings today -- 10

a.m. and 1:30 and 3 p.m. -- and one meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Joy

Park Community Center.

The residents will have the option of moving to another apartment in the Joy

Park complex, if there are suitable available apartments, O'Leary said. If

not, residents will be moved into other AMHA housing elsewhere in Akron.

When the work is completed, the residents moved out of Joy park would move

back into their old apartments, he said.

Residents moved elsewhere in the complex would remain in their new quarters,

he said.

The agency would pay for moving for affected residents, he said.

O'Leary said he suspected that most affected residents would opt to stay in

the Joy Park complex, if possible.

In 2000, AMHA and its contractors found widespread mold in 23

then-unoccupied buildings at Joy Park, in connection with a $10 million

renovation project. The interior remodeling work was halted with workers

complaining of widespread mold.

AMHA then spent in excess of $800,000 to remove mold from the empty

buildings.

What triggered the concern was fears of stachybotrys, a greenish-black mold

that has been linked to potentially fatal pulmonary hemosiderosis, bleeding

in the lungs, especially in infants exposed to tobacco smoke.

Symptoms include nosebleeds and coughing up blood. The toxins created by the

mold are inhaled and weaken blood vessels in the lungs, causing bleeding.

Stachybotrys grows on wood or paper, not on plastic, vinyl, concrete or

ceramic tile.

Stachybotrys and two less threatening molds were found in virtually all of

the 23 buildings, officials said.

The Joy Park mold also became a legal issue in Summit County Common Pleas

Court when AMHA countersued against a Columbus company that was hired to

work at Joy Park. The public housing authority sought damages from Ohio

Technical Services Inc. for breach of contract in the cleanup.

Earlier the company had filed its own suit against the housing authority,

claiming that AMHA's mold-cleanup criteria were flawed. It sought $350,000

from AMHA. Its workers walked off the job, forcing AMHA to hire other

contractors to do the work.

The lawsuits were resolved in the last few weeks to the advantage of AMHA,

O'Leary said. He said he was unable to provide more details on the

settlement.

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Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@...