Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment is trying to determine whether a contractor followed proper procedures before beginning work on the vacated Highline Terrace on Parker apartment complex.
An estimated 300 residents were displaced when asbestos was exposed during building renovations.
Building owners or their contractors are legally required to have property assessed for abatement of asbestos before acquiring a city building permit, according to Christopher Dann, spokesman for the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, a unit of the health department.
“Part of our ongoing investigation is to see if the assessment was done,” Dann said.
He said his agency has the authority to levy fines if proper procedures weren’t followed.
The health department learned of the asbestos May 31 through a complaint.
Mark Young, vice president of operations for Commercial Services Building Inc., the California-based contractor hired to work on the apartments, declined to comment.
Dave Bufalo, recently retired director of the design and construction management division for the Denver Public Works Department, believes that proper procedures may not have been followed.
“If an investigation had been done, this stuff would have been discovered – those people are pretty thorough,” Bufalo said.
“The owner sometimes doesn’t know the nuances of what is involved with working on their property,” Bufalo said. “When these things occur it’s bad news for everybody.”
Staff writer JP Eichmiller can be reached at 303-820-1201 or jeichmiller@denverpost.com.
