THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
DANVILLE — Vermilion Advantage President and CEO Mike Marron said findings made public by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about salmonella contamination possibly extending for years at the former Quaker Oats plant in Danville were “definitely concerning” and answered some questions on why PepsiCo made its decision to close the plant so suddenly.
“It’s disturbing that they had the issue and let it get to the point where the facility wasn’t recoverable,” Marron said.
“It does put in question the future of the building,” he said.
“I think there was some concern the building wouldn’t be used anyway. It’s an outdated facility,” Marron said.
He said they continue to engage with PepsiCo to get answers and what the company intends to do with the property.
Marron said that on almost a weekly basis, they speak with the government affairs official with PepsiCo and remind the company that local officials are trying to move forward in marketing the site.
If there is nothing to salvage, PepsiCo should raze the building and make sure the site is reusable, he said.
“We need them to be as quick as they can,” he added about a resolution.
Local officials want to make sure PepsiCo doesn’t stick the city with the site’s problems.
Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk said that while the building’s fate remains up to PepsiCo, the city’s main concern for the future has to be water mitigation, not just on the Quaker property, but on those contiguous to it.
“During every major rain event the city of Danville has on East Voorhees Street, there’s a large accumulation of water. That water can be seen on the current Quaker site, the Heatcraft site, and the Dawson Logistics site. The city has to be prepared for how to get that property redeveloped. And that could include the city-owned prior Heatcraft site with the Quaker site. What does that look like? And how do we get it out of the floodplain? So that’s what the city of Danville is investigating right now.”
Danville-based radio group and news director Steve Brandy contributed to this story.
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