Over the years, the city of Erie along with regulatory agencies have expressed concerns about the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property, located near East 16th and French streets. According to documents obtained and interviews conducted by the Erie Times-News, concerns included violations of asbestos regulations and violations of code enforcement regulations.
The property, which is adjacent to public housing and residential neighborhoods, has been demolished and is the subject of a multimillion-dollar environmental cleanup.
August 2003
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited Quin-T Corp.’s parent company at that time, JHNY Inc., for violating federal asbestos regulations at the Erie plant. Following inspections at the site, EPA officials alleged that the company violated federal regulations prohibiting both visible emissions of asbestos and air monitoring of potential sources of asbestos emissions, and that an EPA inspector discovered material containing asbestos in a roof vent at the property.
The inspector also found asbestos dust on the floor and a catwalk, and that Quin-T’s air cleaning system was allowing asbestos to escape the building through a roof vent. JHNY/Quin-T was also cited for violating federal record-keeping requirements.
EPA spokeswoman Virginia Nurk said that an administrative law judge issued a default order against JHNY in July 2004, but the $51,700 fine was written off by the government in 2012 "due to Quin-T being no longer in existence."
Representatives of JHNY could not be reached for comment.
2006 to 2008
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials filed paperwork in Erie County Common Pleas Court seeking to force two entities connected to the Quin-T site at that time, Erie R.E. LLC and Industrial Papers Inc., to identify and dispose of the contents of more than 100 drums sitting in the vacant factory.
Court papers showed that Erie R.E. LLC bought the property in 2006, and Industrial Papers Inc. formerly manufactured paper gaskets at the site. DEP officials said the drums were there when Quin-T left, and had become Erie R. E. LLC and Industrial Papers Inc.’s responsibility.
According to DEP documents and officials, the department sent at least two notices to Erie R.E. LLC regarding the company's failure to identify the drums' contents.
DEP eventually issued an administrative order directing Erie R.E. LLC to complete a hazardous waste determination on all barrels at the property; to label each barrel as either hazardous waste or residual waste; and to properly dispose of materials within 120 days.
Erie R.E. LLC and Industrial Papers Inc. eventually entered a consent decree with the DEP in February 2008 regarding the disposal of the drums, which were taken to Lake View Landfill In Summit Township for disposal in March 2008.
Officials associated with Erie R.E. LLC and Industrial Papers Inc. could not be reached for comment.
August 2014
Erie’s chief fire inspector at the time, Guy Santone, and Andy Zimmerman, the city’s manager of code enforcement, met with representatives of 140 E. 16th St. Inc. of Depew, New York, which owned the Quin-T site at the time.
The two sides discussed concerns about the property’s condition and ways to make it safer. At that time, there had been at least 17 fires at the complex since 2013, according to city fire officials.
The site’s owners also hired an Erie-based security company to make the site more secure.
May 2015
The city of Erie filed code enforcement citations against 140 E. 16th St. for failure to repair or demolish structures on the Quin-T property, hoping to make the property secure and deter trespassers, including members of the city’s homeless population.
“We were worried about their safety as well,” Zimmerman said in a recent interview. “People were getting in there and camping. Kids were in there playing. That’s why we tried to take an aggressive stance.”
A hearing on the citations before then-Erie 2nd Ward District Judge Paul Urbaniak began in September 2015.The city said the property’s owners failed to demolish or shore up the Quin-T buildings following multiple fires.
January 2016
City officials withdrew the summary citations filed against 140 E. 16th St. because the property owner completed some work aimed at making the Quin-T buildings safer, including partial demolition and cleanup.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at @ETNflowers.
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