Stricter asbestos rules blamed for drop off in city demolitions

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburghwill probably see an uptick in city-paid building demolitions in 2018 after tougher asbestos regulations led to a steep decline last year, a city department head said Thursday.

City contractors demolished 46 buildings in 2017, down from 219 in 2016 and 186 in 2015, according to an audit from city Controller Michael Lamb’s office. The average razing expense soared from $9,123.85 to $60,268.43 in the same period, helping to limit demolition projects, the audit shows.

While a couple of large-scale demolitions in 2017 contributed to the average, Mr. Lamb said, higher costs arose largely from a change in Allegheny County Health Department rules. The department began in 2016 to require all of the city’s demolition targets to be tested beforehand for asbestos, a toxic building material.

Earlier, most single-family homes didn’t undergo the testing. Because of a complication with county contracting, several rounds of city demolitions in 2016 and 2017 proceeded without asbestos tests, said Maura Kennedy, director of the city Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections.

Thehiccup meant workers had to assume those buildings contained asbestos, triggering a thorough cleanup and containment process that can run up to $70,000 per structure, Ms. Kennedy said.