HONESDALE, Pa. — The old ambulance building on 12th Street in Honesdale has sat vacant for many years. It was condemned in 2010 because of structural damage and asbestos. The county bought the building from Wayne Memorial Hospital after acquiring the properties around it for additional parking for county employees about a year ago.
County officials and engineers ran the numbers to see if the building could be saved, but in the end, tearing it down was the least expensive option.
"It's been a multi-year process to get where it is. And right now the building's in complete disrepair and it's designed you know as part of this project to be removed," said Wayne County Commissioner Joseph Adams.
The county was awarded state funds totaling about $500,000 dollars. About $200,000 of that will be used for demolition. The remainder of the money will be for renovations to the area as part of the Lackawaxen River Trails projects. That project is intended to provide public access to the area where the Lackawaxen River and Dyberry Creek meet behind the building.
"With a pavilion for the future all of the woods around it planning to be used and picnic tables and, and in public areas to recreate as part of what that project is."
If the building were to collapse before it was demolished, it would do more harm than good and the cleanup would be even more difficult.
"River cleanups are certainly much more complicated because there's a huge flow of water which will carry pollutants downstream, and what it would take to try to immediately address it," Adams said.
Once the county has chosen the contractor to do the demolition, county commissioners say they anticipate the building to be taken down sometime in the spring.