Muskingam County, Ohio, plans to donate a large tract of land for the construction of Zane State’s new science and technology center in exchange for the funding necessary to demolish the land’s current buildings. The land, near Newark Road, currently accommodates the Muskingam County Home, but the buildings were labeled as unstable and potentially dangerous by a structural engineer just three years ago. At the time, a recommendation was made to vacate the buildings within five years to ensure the safety of its inhabitants.
County commissioners have taken steps to temporarily move operations of the Muskingam County Home to a new location, the former site of the Ohio District Council nursing facility on East Pike. While meetings have been conducted to discuss long term solutions for the home and its inhabitants, no decisive conclusions have been made as of yet. The county must still decide if a new building will be constructed for the home, whether a private company should be introduced to manage the facility, or if the entire operation should be sold to private investors.
Zane State’s proposal to assist with the demolition costs was providential regardless of the ultimate fate of Muskingam County Home. The old building houses plenty of raw materials which contain dangerous asbestos fibers, making demolition a complicated and expensive task whose proper execution could impact the land’s future residents.
Asbestos, a toxic mineral which was used throughout the twentieth century in a variety of industrial and commercial applications, can easily contaminate large areas as a result of improperly performed demolitions or renovations. Aggravating or disturbing asbestos containing construction products can result in airborne, microscopic asbestos fibers which could eventually settle into the land surrounding a work site and constitute a health hazard for future generations.
Federal and state regulations require specially licensed contractors to carefully remove a building’s asbestos containing materials prior to demolition or renovation efforts. These contractors use specific equipment and techniques to minimize contamination and safely remove and dispose of any asbestos products.
While the process can be very expensive, the alternative is risking the development of asbestosis, mesothelioma or other dangerous asbestos related diseases in a building or work site’s future inhabitants.
The Muskingam County Home demolition will run some $130,000, a cost which Zane State is happy to help with in order to expand its campus and serve new students. Zane State’s planned addition, The Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine Center, will be comprised of a 40,000 square foot building seated on the current Muskingam County Home’s eight acres of land. The new facility will help to educate as much as 500 more students annually in a variety of important, technology centered fields.