Proposed Development Of Asbestos Waste Site Has Montco Residents Concerned
By Justin Udo
AMBLER, Pa. (CBS) - Residents in a Montgomery County community are fighting to have an asbestos site removed from one of their neighborhoods before a developer breaks ground on the land.
A ten-acre asbestos waste site in Ambler is the place where an apartment complex is set to be built.
"We want it cleaned up properly, we want it cleaned up thoroughly and we don't think letting people live on it is such a good thing to do," says Sharon McCormick with the Ambler Borough council.
McCormick says the developers approved plans allows them to build on the site without cleaning it up:
"If this development gets built, it will be the first in the Country that is allowed to be put on top of asbestos waste without the asbestos being removed."
McCormick says she's not opposed to development, but it needs to be done right:
"There's been a significant push for the EPA to come out and remove these dumps which would be the best for Ambler."
Ambler is known for having a higher than average number of cases of mesothelioma -- a cancer related to asbestos exposure.
A call to the development firm Strategic Realty was not immediately returned.
