Nov 7, 2002 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

The Uniontown Redevelopment Authority increased the financial assistance available for home rehabilitation projects by $5,000, due to regulations for dealing with lead-based paint. Authority board members unanimously approved raising the amount available through loans and grants to $20,000.

“When we start to do this, everybody’s going to get an education on lead-based paint,” authority rehabilitation specialist Mark Yauger said Wednesday before the board passed the increase.

The board also adopted a hold harmless contract designed to protect the authority from lawsuits over illness due to exposure to lead paint. From now on, the contract will be part of each of the authority’s rehabilitation agreements.

Regulations from U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, which funds the rehabilitation program through Community Development Block Grants, established rules for making homes in the program “lead safe” in 1999, but began enforcing them this year, Yauger explained after the authority meeting.

During the meeting, authority executive director William Long said cost containment is practiced in all rehab projects and the low bidder for the work has always been selected.

Yauger said the bid prices fall with 5 to 10 percent of his estimates.

He said all the work meets city building code standards and the cost of some projects reached the previous maximum of $15,000.

Long said the $20,000 maximum was needed because of increased construction costs and the lead safe regulations.

Authority Chairman Alvin Mundel said up to $3,800 can be spent to make a home lead safe.

Board member John Ptak asked if the increase in project costs due to the lead safe requirements would result in fewer rehab projects?

“No matter what occurs, we’re going to do less rehabs,” Long said.

After the meeting, he explained that if the maximum were left at $15,000, some projects would have to be rejected because they would cost more than that. With the $20,000 maximum for each project, fewer projects will be affordable.

Yauger said lead-based paint was last used in houses in 1978, but many city homes have it.

He said if the paint on a lead-base painted wall is not disturbed, it will not be addressed during a rehab project.

If the paint is peeling, it will be coated with non-lead paint. If wood trim around a window has lead paint, it can be covered with aluminum.

The authority hires contractors certified in lead-safe work to determine if old paint contains lead with a $20,000 device that has a radioactive power source. They test dust samples for lead.

Projects that cost less than $5,000 are exempt from lead-safe practices.

In other business, the authority also set a $10,000 cap on grants to businesses to make handicap access renovations.