By CRAIG FREILICH

NORWOOD – The state has granted Norwood a variance that will make it easier for the village to clear up the asbestos-tainted debris left by the fire to the former Norwood Elementary School.

Under that variance, granted by the state Department of Labor, which handles asbestos-relate matters, 75 percent of the debris left after the November 2009 fire can be separated from the rest and disposed of at a much cheaper rate than if the entire pile were to be handled under the stricter standard, according to Mayor Jim McFaddin.

Even better, McFaddin said, the Development Authority of the North Country, which runs regional landfills, will take the remaining debris containing asbestos at half the normal rate, at $100 per ton rather than $200 per ton. The rate for normal disposal is $28 per ton.

McFaddin hopes this will lower the price enough that they can get a bid rim a contractor at a low enough rate to enable them to begin work.

All this bargaining and maneuvering is required because the owner of the property, I.B. Property Holdings, Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla., “has stepped away,” McFaddin says, refusing to take responsibility.

Numerous attempts to contact the company by various means have been unsuccessful. That has been going on for many years, since before the property on Prospect Street was declared unsafe for occupancy by the Norwood Fire Chief in December 2007.

The mayor says the owner “is listed as the CEO of about five different companies, and we can’t reach him at any of them. Even receipts for certified letters come back with an illegible signature.” Whatever the removal costs, it will be added to the owner’s growing tax bill. If the owner doesn’t pay, the village will have to sue, McFaddin said.

McFaddin said before it’s all hauled away, he hopes to be able to retrieve some of the commemorative plaques and other items of interest for safe storage.

The school was built in 1885.