HOT SPRINGS -- The owner of the Majestic Hotel complex has been given 15 days to implement a removal plan to clean up the rubble left from a Feb. 27 fire.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality said in a letter sent Tuesday by certified mail to Garrison Hassenflu, manager of hotel owner Park Residences Development, that failure to implement the removal plan in accordance with the approved schedule "could result in escalation of these matters for formal enforcement."
Hassenflu sent a proposed removal plan and timeline to the Environmental Quality Department on Aug. 22. The plan was approved Sept. 3 with conditions regarding a basement tank that has been used over the years for storage of petroleum products and other issues.
Hassenflu told the department that the tank is a concrete storage vault that had been emptied and filled with inert material. If it is closed and sealed as indicated in documentation regarding the tank, it would remain intact and the basement would be filled and covered with soil, he said.
In the latest letter, Tammie Hynum, chief of the department's Hazardous Waste Division, said, "This letter serves as written notification ADEQ approves the RP with the condition the tank system investigation needs to be expanded to include the soils around the tank system to determine whether the levels of hazardous constituents pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment if left in place. Measures should continue to finalize any contract to carry out the terms of the RP. In no case should the implementation date exceed 15 calendar days from receipt of this letter."
City Manager David Watkins told the Hot Springs Board of Directors on Tuesday night that he, City Attorney Brian Albright, state Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, and state Rep. John Vines, D-Hot Springs, met with Environmental Quality Department officials earlier in the day to discuss the Majestic Hotel complex.
"In two weeks, the city will meet with ADEQ to talk about a plan of action because that rubble can't continue sitting there," Watkins said. "It creates a negative image when people drive into Hot Springs. We have the math and science school there, one of our best restaurants is up there, a residential area that is making a comeback, and the condition of that building is a hindrance."
Metro on 10/23/2014