FALL RIVER ─ It looks like there is one more step to go to complete the demolition of the old Bedford Street police station that was 30 years in the making at a cost of more than $1.4 million.
“It’s been no surprise. There is an oil tank in the ground, in the basement. We could not comfortably get to it,” said City building inspector Glenn Hathaway, who has been overseeing the demolition by the company, Bestech Inc. of Connecticut.
The demolition took the 111-year-old building down to the basement level.
The tank, which Hathaway does not know currently what it contains if anything, is encased in brick and cement. He said it contained a scuttle hole to access the tank, but rightly so, he decided not to explore.
“I am in the process of getting three bids to remove the oil tank, and once I get those bids I can proceed from there,” said Hathaway. “And any testing that needs to be done, we’ll have it completed.”
Once that is done, the demolition will be complete.
On Tuesday, the project was given “a clean bill of health” by the Department of Environmental Management, according to Hathaway.
After the tanks are removed, Hathaway said he can move ahead to put out the bid work to fill the basement with clean fill, so the site is level depending on the grade of the property which slopes up along High Street.
City Administrator Ann O’Neil Souza said the administration is currently in discussions to turn the land into parking on Bedford Street.
