Over the past two weeks, workers from Veit Construction have been dismantling and taking materials from the old Farmland buildings and site.

The demolition is being paid for by the city with $3 million in Farmland’s insurance money as part of a deal the cooperative made with the city. The total cost of the demolition is estimated to be $2.4 million, but it could change based on weather conditions.

Don Ruotsinoja, the project manager of the demolition of Farmland, said the demolition process is estimated to take seven months. Ruotsinoja said the first stage, which workers are going through now, is removal of asbestos, potential environmental hazards and other special waste.

&uot;This stage should be ongoing through November into December,&uot; he said. &uot;It is a significant part of the job.&uot;

As well as taking care of the potential dangers inside of the building, the company will also be working on erosion control in order to guarantee that the infrastructure of the city is unharmed. They will be capping all wells on the site and putting in sediment filter fabric over all manholes on the site.

The second step, according to Ruotsinoja, will come after the site’s environmental cleanup satisfies state and federal code. The company needs to get clearance to move forward from that step.

After this, materials on the inside of the building will be segregated for recycling. Workers will remove all steel products, brick materials and all combustible materials and recycle them.

The brick and concrete will be crushed into fill, which will be used by the city in future construction endeavors.

&uot;All of the site’s concrete, including foundations will be removed,&uot; Ruotsinoja said. This will be the most dramatic part of the process and should last through the first few months of 2003.

Veit will be using heavy machinery during this time to take down the buildings and crush the concrete on site.

&uot;Demolition will go through the spring but weather does have an impact on progress,&uot; Ruotsinoja said. He said snow does not have a large effect, but freezing temperatures can slow down the environmental work.

He guesses the project will not be fully done until May.

&uot;The goal is to undershoot that, though,&uot; he said. &uot;After that the site will be ready for redevelopment.&uot;

The city will take ownership of the land after demolition is complete.