City will heighten asbestos awareness on all renovations, not just Block by Block's

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city of Cedar Rapids' building official, Matt Widner, says he will add an information sheet on asbestos to every permit his office issues for a home renovation.

Widner on Thursday said his action comes because the issue of asbestos in home renovations has been raised in recent days by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which has singled out the non-profit Block by Block flood-recovery program for not taking proper account of federal rules related to working around asbestos.

Working in concert with the state agency, Block by Block now has hired an asbestos specialist, who has cleared six homes of asbestos issues so the program's cadre of volunteer workers can continue renovations. Inspections are proceeding in other homes in an acceptable way, Tom Wuehr, air-quality specialist with DNR, reported on Thursday.

The state's Wuehr and the city's Widner don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on what is required of the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants related to asbestos.

Wuehr said Block by Block falls under the federal national emissions standards because it is a program administering renovations on several properties.

Widner said he would defer to Wuehr, but Widner added that that city's information sheets on asbestos would let him "cover the bases" for those who think the federal standards “technically” could be thought to cover a contractor who works on renovations at an assortment of different properties.

Widner said the city's feeling is that contractors licensed in Iowa are supposed to know how to work around asbestos and to take appropriate steps anytime asbestos-containing material is disturbed in a way that can release asbestos dust into the air.

The city's information sheet on asbestos should “heighten awareness” of the asbestos issue, Widner explained.

The state's Wuehr and the city's Widner noted that hundreds of home renovations have taken place on flood-damaged homes since the June 2008 flood.

Widner said there was little the city could do for renovations now completed other than to inform owners who might have a concern to have a contractor take a look at the house. But many renovations don't involve asbestos and many homes in which asbestos-containing material might be present did not necessarily have the material disturbed during the renovation, he pointed out.

Wuehr said the DNR is limited in its access to renovated homes now reoccupied. But he said the DNR will inspect now-occupied homes in the Block by Block program if possible to see if any asbestos debris is in the house. If so, a sample will be taken and tested, and if a test is positive, the program will be contacted to remedy the matter, he said.