HOLYOKE — Renovations to a controversial drug treatment group home are set to resume after a state order preventing work on the 11 Yale St. building over the long weekend was lifted.
“Construction will continue,” said Kim Lee, vice president of resource development and branding for Mental Health Association, a Springfield nonprofit that is turning the building into a 16-bed group home for people recovering from addiction.
Friday afternoon’s cease-and-desist order was placed on the property by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards due to suspected lead and asbestos hazards. Mike Pietras, who owns Engineering & Land Solutions, the company doing the renovation, said the cease-and-desist order arose from an anonymous complaint to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that was forwarded to the state agency.
Pietras said he connected with the Department of Labor Standards on Tuesday and was asked if he was planning to test for asbestos. After explaining that he was planning to have tests done, and saying he would do so this week, he said, the agency lifted the stop-work order.
Although the order referred to violations related to the contractor not being licensed for lead and asbestos abatement, and indicated that the mitigation of the substances had not been conducted according to law, Pietras said those violations hadn’t happened and that his company was not cited for them.
“We’re very aware of the regulations,” Pietras said. “We weren’t doing unlicensed work.”
Attempts to reach the Department of Labor Standards Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Pietras said his company also will test for lead, although he said the state’s lead regulations don’t apply to the building, given its use. Nevertheless, he said, any lead found will be handled appropriately, and if any asbestos is discovered, an abatement company will be hired to deal with it.
“There is no data to support the improper handling of asbestos,” said Lee. “Same with lead.”
She also said “no corners were cut” with the project.
Pietras did say that there isn’t a lot of demolition work being done on the house, and that a lot of the work has involved subdividing rooms with the construction of new walls.
The project has come under criticism by a number of people in the neighborhood, and a lawsuit from four abutters is currently in Massachusetts Land Court.
One of the critics of the Yale Street project is neighborhood resident Scott DeFelice.
DeFelice is a member of the organization Citizens for Holyoke, which also opposes the project. He contends that medical care is a major part of the proposed facility and that it is thus in violation of the city’s zoning. He also said that it threatens property values.
On the order being lifted, DeFelice said, “Frankly to us, that’s beside the point.”
Another critic, neighborhood resident Dave Healey, an environmental engineer, said the project should have had tests done on it before any work commenced.
Pietras said that, so far, no renovation or mitigation work has been done on areas where asbestos might be suspected.