Hempfield supervisors Monday declared the former Westmoreland Glass factory site in Grapeville a public nuisance and have given the owners a deadline to clean up the area and raze the decaying buildings and huge brick towers that loom over Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
By a unanimous vote, the board ruled the site is a "danger to the health, safety and welfare of residents" who live along the tracks.
The site is owned by Beacon Pennsylvania Holdings Inc., which was given a deadline to clean up the site that once was one of the busiest and most productive glass-manufacturing facilities in the world.
The board held a hearing last June to hear testimony about the potential threat to residents from the garbage-strewn site.
Solicitor Les Mlakar said Beacon has 30 days to appeal the decision to Westmoreland County Court. Beacon must begin cleanup within 30 days and demolish the structures within 120 days or face fines.
Beacon is a penny stock company that is known in stock parlance as "pink sheets." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not allow penny stocks to be traded on traditional markets because they are not required to submit audits or other financial records attesting to the strength of the company.
Ownership of the company is murky.
In the past year, the CEO has changed three times, and the board was unable to learn the identities of the board of directors and who the company's investors are at the public hearing.
The company was based in a Route 30 motel until earlier this year. Mlakar said he didn't know what address to send the decision to because Beacon has three addresses. It has a mailbox along Radebaugh Road but no local office.
The company has promised the township it would undertake work to clean up the site but has not applied for any demolition permits from the state or federal government. The permits are required because of the potential threat of asbestos and heavy metals in the soil.
Beacon has issued news releases announcing developments and explaining the progress the company made.
In early September, it issued a news release announcing it had hired Cribbs & Associates of Delmont to conduct tests at the site. Owner Gary Cribbs said earlier this month he could not comment.
When Beacon purchased the site in 2008 for $42,000, then-CEO Adam Marek told the township he would demolish the plant in early 2009.
Marek was subpoenaed by the township for last summer's hearing but failed to appear. A short time later, the company announced Marek was being replaced as CEO by Rick Blackburn of Florida.
Blackburn also works for Renaissance Renovations and Development of Nevada, which was hired by Beacon to salvage the bricks and steel.
