If you’ve passed by the Laura Plantz House on Old Depot Road, you may have taken note of cordoned off areas and signage indicating peeling paint and lead hazard. Here’s what’s going on: When the property was redeveloped in 2015, we worked with the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board lead paint program to test the building and there was NO evidence of lead paint in any areas of the outside walls that were tested. However, because they don’t test every square inch, when there is peeling paint, we act as if lead paint may be a presence and follow the legal procedure to address it including labeling it as a lead hazard for precautionary measures.
There is currently a section of the outside wall that has peeling paint and it has been cordoned off by our maintenance tech. The reason why it has not been stabilized and repainted yet is because of recent changes in the state of Vermont’s lead based paint laws. All of our Maintenance tech’s are EMP certified and some are RRP certified through the EPA. WWHT is also currently certified to conduct lead-based paint renovation, repair and painting activities through the EPA. As of October 1 Vermont is no longer an EPA Administered State and is now requiring us to re-register and re-apply for these same certifications through a state process. We are not allowed to take any remediation action until this happens. We are currently working through the state’s new licensing portal to apply for a Firm License. To reiterate, there is no testing on file that indicates that there is lead paint, but we follow the protocol anyway on these older buildings.
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Windham & Windsor Housing Trust