Housing out as use for old Fonda site
St Albans Messenger – April 30, 2009
City eyes incubator space development
St. Albans City, VT – The vacant Fonda/Solo paper products plant on Lower Newton Street is no longer destined to become a housing project.
An amicable split between the City of St. Albans and South Burlington developer Yandow-Dousevicz transpired in late winter, after Yandow-Dousevicz realized environmental clean-up costs would exceed what it wanted to invest in the property, said Dominic Cloud, city manager. The city then sought the flexibility to pursue a different use of the building to recover those costs. The city purchased the building for $300,000 and was working with Yandow-Dousevicz to build a 100-unit senior housing complex at Solo.
 Solo Paper - Fonda Group - St. Albans, VT Yandow-Dousevicz is also responsible for the Hawk’s Nest, a senior residential facility in St. Albans Town, at the intersection of Route 104 and Route 36. “Yandow-Dousevicz continues to be interested in congregate housing in the city, and we continue to be interested in assisting them,” Cloud said. “Just not on that site.”
In mid-January, a state health department health official said it was “reasonable to conclude” that past workers of Fonda and Solo had some risk of chemical exposure to chemical contaminants. Tests conducted through the Northwest Regional Planning Commission’s brownfields program have revealed contaminants in groundwater, soil and concrete in the main building. Specifically, the site has elevated levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and TCE (trichloroethene). The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the U.S. in 1977 because of evidence they accumulate in the environment and can cause harmful effects.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the ink used at Fonda, a leading U.S. food container company, contained PCBs, potentially toxic environmental compounds, and was spilled on the concrete floor, leaving it contaminated.
Cloud has said environmental mitigation could cost anywhere from $900,000 to $1.5 million. The city awaits word on a $400,000 grant application to the Environmental Protection Agency for cleanup at Solo. The city has subdivided the property into two parcels and, with approval, will split the EPA grant between the two sites.
Cloud called Solo “a viable development site located in a designated growth center, with rail siding.” The city could either sell the property as part of a redevelopment effort or lease it as business incubator space and use the revenue to bolster other economic development projects in the city, Cloud said.
Tim Smith, of the Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation, said at an industrial event in St. Albans last week that the region is short on incubator space. Neighbors of the Solo plant were worried about water runoff from the site. The city met with those neighbors in March and assuaged their fears. “We haven’t heard any concerns from the neighbors since that meeting,” Cloud said.
The Solo Cup Company closed the former Fonda Container plant in late 2005, displacing all 168 employees. The paper-products company was among the oldest and continuously run commercial operations in the city. Among its many products were cups and plates once used at large sports ballparks and stadiums.
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The St. Augustine Record, by Kati Bexley, Saturday, March 21, 2009
For Cori Ottenstein, 17, being part of Bartram Trail High School’s dance team on March 8, the day the team won the National Dance Alliance National Championships in Orlando, was one of the best days of her life.
 Members of the Bartram High School dance team practice a routine at the school on Thursday, March 19, 2009. Bartram Trail beat out 400 other schools across the country to win its second consecutive title. The school’s coach, Patty Adams, has spent several years building up the school’s unstoppable reputation across the state. And it’s paying off. Several girls are going on to dance for colleges, and some are auditioning for the Jacksonville Jaguars “The Roar” dancers. (…)
Like Ottenstein, dance team members say the sport has taught them life lessons. Team Captain Brittiany Fonda, 19, and team officer, Kayla Harris, 18, say it’s shown them the hard work and determination it takes to obtain a goal.
Both of the girls are trying out for the Jaguars “The Roar” and are in the final round of auditions. “I will just work really hard this year to improve and try out again next year,” Fonda said. “You can never give up.”
Svedlund said Adams taught them the dance team “isn’t really about dance.” She’s trying out for the dance team at Georgia Tech, where she will attend next year. She said Adams pushes them to bring in an A or B average, and Svedlund is ranked 29th in her class. “She taught us it doesn’t matter at the end of the day whether you win or lose,” she said. “As long as you’ve given your best, you can never let excuses get in your way.”
Adams said even if her team hadn’t taken the national championship, they won her over after their performance.”They came off the stage and said, ‘We can go home right now because we know we did our best. We did everything we could,'” she said. “The lessons of hard work they learned was the real prize for me.”
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 Judy Smith, Deborah Kenyon and Mary Fonda survey the damage to the library children's section after a car accident Monday afternoon. The Clay County Progress, Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Throwing the book at someone has a new meaning after a single car accident sent shelves and books flying at the Moss Memorial Library.
About 4:30 p.m. law enforcement officers responded to reports that a car had crashed through the library wall on the Main Street side of the building. No one was injured, but the library will remain closed until structural repairs are completed, librarian Mary Fonda said.
Fred Ogden, 80, of Waynesville, told the North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper that his foot slipped off of the brake while he and his wife were parking. Fonda said. His foot became lodged between the brake and the gas and the car crashed through the exterior wall, buckled the interior wall and crunched the white metal shelf support.
No citations were issued.
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The Independent – January 9, 2009
Rensselaer, NY – Stop by the Rensselaer Area Senior Center any day of the week to find a bunch of senior citizens doing anything but acting their age. You’re more likely to find a flurry of activity from Tai Chi and yoga, to line dancing or belly dancing. There’s bowling and aqua aerobics, music and laughter everyday.
On Tuesdays you’ll find a group of ladies, often dressed in long skirts with headscarves and jingly belts involved in a belly dancing class. Often considered a dance of seduction, belly dancing is more like a folk dance, an ancient art form that for centuries has been a celebratory dance people would do to commemorate special occasions such as weddings, the birth of a child or community festivals in the Middle East.
 Seniors Olive Felio, (l-r) instructor Lynn Buell, Irja Riano and Phyllis Kearbey practice belly dancing every Tuesday at the Rensselaer Area Senior Center, a lively dance class with a Middle Eastern twist. Photo by Catherine Sager. It is a dance that men, women, and children do for fun, not necessarily as a performance for the entertainment of an audience. Just like at a wedding reception where guests might do waltzes, the electric slide, Macarena, or even the chicken dance. But for the participants of the Rensselaer Senior Center, it’s just one of many activities offered to active seniors.
“It’s a great way for seniors to get a workout,” said Lynn Buell, dance instructor. “It combines low-impact steps with gentle flowing movements, but is a surprisingly effective form of exercise.” Ms. Buell says the measured movements involve all major muscle groups and help with circulation, posture and balance. The music is soothing and the movements are so graceful and repetitive that it’s a stress reliever, she said. And it’s easy to learn. Anyone can do it. All that’s needed to know are a few simple steps. With slow and gentle movements, it’s the perfect exercise and a unique form of dance that doesn’t require a partner.
Gloria Fonda, the director of the center, wants it known that all Rensselaer County seniors 60 years or older are invited to visit the center. The center is an active, vibrant community where seniors can gather to take a class, catch up with friends or have a hot lunch every day at noon, for a suggested donation of $2.50. She said there is no fee for any activities on the calendar at the center at the corner of East and Herrick streets.
“It’s through the [Department of Aging] agency’s genuine concern for the health and welfare of our elders that the center serves so many so well,” said Ms. Fonda.
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Whidbey Examiner – September 26, 2008
The first complaint from a Front Street property owner about restrictions imposed by Coupeville’s new shoreline master plan has officials at Coupeville (WA) Town Hall barely holding back a big “I told you so.” “This is exactly the kind of situation we were trying to avoid,” Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard said.
 Coupeville property owner Millie Fonda stands in front of her building on Front Street. Fonda said restrictions placed on her building by Coupeville’s new shoreline master plan are putting her finances in dire straits. Millie Fonda, the owner of a historic three-story building, recently inquired whether or not she would able to move into the bottom floor of her building. The space, which once housed Great Times Espresso, has been vacant since the Coupeville Coffeehouse closed last spring. Fonda said she has been unable to find someone who wants to rent the space for a business, in part because it needs considerable renovation.
But the work will take several months, and Fonda needs to earn an income from her building as soon as possible. “I need the revenue from that space to be able to pay my mortgage,” she said. The solution Fonda came up with was to make up the lost revenue by renting out the upstairs apartment where she currently resides. Her plan was to move her belongings into the former coffee shop and live there while she works on fixing it up.
Fonda said the building’s previous owner had once used the bottom floor as a residence, which led her to believe she could do the same. But when Fonda asked Coupeville Town Planner Larry Kwarsick for a permit to use the commercially zoned space for a residence, she was told her request would likely be denied. Fonda said she thinks the rejection is unfair.
“I am being denied the use of my property in a way it has previously and historically been used,” Fonda wrote in a statement she delivered to the Examiner. According to Conard, Fonda has not been denied the permit because she never actually applied for one. Conard said Fonda was simply advised that an application would likely be denied.
“Her right to apply has not been denied,” Conard said. “We just know what the law would support.” Fonda could apply for a conditional-use permit under the current shoreline plan, but Kwarsick said the process takes months and requires the approval of the state Department of Ecology. And based on the agency’s input regarding the recently approved shoreline plan, Kwarsick said he thinks the agency also would turn down Fonda’s request. (…)
Conard echoed those sentiments, saying that many of the people who criticized the plan probably didn’t realize all the consequences those complaints would have. She speculated that most would see Fonda’s request as legitimate. “This just breaks my heart,” Conard said. “I really feel bad for Millie.”
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