Although the future of the unused Frog Level Volunteer Rescue Squad building on Route 301 remains hazy, its present condition will soon become clearer after the supervisors agreed Nov. 12 to move forward with a more in-depth environmental study of the site.
The building has been in a state of limbo for months as the Board of Supervisors considers whether assuming its ownership would be more of a boon or a burden.
Currently, it belongs to the Frog Level Volunteer Rescue Squad, which the county shut down in October 2012 in response to dwindling membership.
In December 2014, an attorney representing the FLVRS notified the county that it “wishes to convey this property to the County of Caroline for use by the Caroline Sheriff Department.” The squad had owned the land since 1983, and county records indicate that the building, valued in a 2011 assessment at almost a quarter-million dollars, was constructed in 1982.
The Sheriff’s Office, according to comments made by Maj. Scott Moser to the Board in June, is interested in using the building as a satellite office, or substation, to increase its presence in the community.
The hitch, though, lies in the property’s past usage as a gas station—and the soil contamination that may or may not have resulted from that use.
According to a county staff memo, “if the property is badly contaminated, anyone in the chain of title (including the County if it decides to take possession of the property) will continue to have potential liability even after selling the property and after remediation should other problems be discovered.”
A Phase I environmental study conducted by Draper Aden Associates earlier this fall found that “at least some gasoline” and “at least some heating oil” had been released to the soil from underground storage tank systems previously located both in front of and behind the building.
However, the firm’s report concluded that further study would be required to determine if the substances released into the soil are “environmentally significant.”
Whether to proceed with a Phase II environmental study at a cost of $5,600 was the question before the Board Nov. 12.
The county’s ability to receive grant money for potential soil remediation from the Department of Environmental Quality is questionable, Caroline Director of Public Utilities Joseph Schiebel said, since the underground tanks have already been removed—although the county has been unable to find any record of when such a removal took place.
“Since the tanks are already gone, it doesn’t qualify for a grant,” said Schiebel. “It’s a gray area. … They won’t give me an answer until they know if the soil’s contaminated or not.”
A division in opinion on how to proceed emerged early on, when Reedy Church Supervisor Reggie Underwood said he had a “gut feeling” that the county would not get an adequate return on further investment in the property.
“I’m just not sure that I’m willing to go to Phase II and spend $6,000 of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Chairman Calvin Taylor disagreed, saying, “I understand that $6,000 is a lot of money, but it’s not a lot of money in comparison to the total value of the property.”
“I would rather lose $6,000 than to give away the value of that building, because we may find that there’s no problem,” he concluded.
Mattaponi Supervisor Floyd Thomas concurred: “It’s a minimal risk. …We could walk away, but at least we’d confirm one way or another.”
At his motion, the Board approved moving forward with the Phase II study 5–1, with Underwood dissenting.
“I think that is a good-faith effort on behalf of the county to make sure this site is actually clean,” said Thomas. “We’re not going to have anything to do with the cleanup, but it would at least benefit the neighborhood to know if there is an issue.”
-CP Reporter Sarah Vogelsong
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