[FONT=Verdana][/FONT][FONT=Verdana][FONT=Verdana]Asbestos problems recently halted the $103 million Citadel Plaza redevelopment project on Kansas City’s east side. Developers could have easily avoided the fiasco by complying with environmental requirements.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]A consultant’s report from last week provides a road map for cleaning up the extensive mess. Tests found asbestos in dozens of homes — some partly demolished and others awaiting the wrecking ball — as well as on already-cleared lots.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The inner-city project includes proposed retail stores and new housing units that would bring more life to an older part of the city.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Citadel[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] Plaza has been in limbo because the Community Development Corp. of Kansas City started demolishing homes without doing required environmental inspections.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]City officials must work with the agency to clean up the asbestos. The cost is unknown at this point, but it should not be done on the cheap.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The recent report, for instance, recommended that workers remove all the demolition debris along with at least a foot of soil.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Bill Threatt Jr., the redevelopment organization’s president and chief executive officer, has told The Star he did not know local, state and federal laws required[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] the inspections.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]But city officials point to a 2002 report to his organization that listed asbestos among the contaminants to be removed before demolition.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Many homes built before 1970 contain materials with asbestos, including roof tiles, flooring and insulation. Asbestos has been linked to cancer, but authorities do not consider this material dangerous unless it’s disturbed. Many older homes in the inner city have asbestos and other environmental risks. The city should issue clear rules that would govern all future demolitions and then oversee the work much more closely.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]In the Citadel Plaza case, City Hall must determine to what extent the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City should be held accountable for the problems at the work site.[/FONT]
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