Home Care In Colfax, LA

Another Colfax Avenue motel is up for redevelopment.

Denver developer Nathan Beal of Saint Bernard Properties purchased the La Vista Motel at 5500 E. Colfax Ave. this summer and plans to turn it into residential living units. La Vista is Beal’s first motel conversion.

Beal purchased the motel property for $1.82 million in June, according to property records. The last time the motel traded hands was in 2006 for $760,000, according to public records, and Beal said the motel was not operating when he purchased it.

“The neighborhoods on either side are really nice and there’s some nice businesses on that stretch of Colfax,” Beal said.

Built in 1956, the motel features 26 rooms, including the on-site owner’s apartment. Beal plans to expand some rooms on the north side and combine others to create one-bedroom residences, complete with full kitchens and possible European-style washers and dryers, in addition to new plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

There will be 21 residences at the project’s completion.

“We’re in that phase right now with the architect where we’re modeling different scenarios,” Beal said.

In addition, Beal is also proposing a three-story, mixed-use building at the corner of Hudson Street and East Colfax Avenue. He wants the new building to function as an amenity for residents on the site, such as a cafe or coffee shop. He thinks residential units on the second and third floors would work well for that site, depending on what the city will permit.

This new building would complement the existing 1950s and 1960s architecture of La Vista.

Beal’s other projects around the Denver area include Canvas, a development of seven modern homes in the Whittier neighborhood. In the Cole neighborhood, Beal is building new townhomes and also renovating an old Scandinavian church into either a residence or a commercial offering.

Beal also recently completed the renovation of a grocery market in the Whittier neighborhood, gutting and transforming it into 13 residential units. The main building from that building was from the 1880s, according to Beal.

“We wanted to take what we did there and apply that to the motel,” he said.

Another driving factor for Beal picking Colfax Avenue for the redevelopment was Denver’s East Colfax Corridor Bus Rapid Transit project, which will include a stop in front of La Vista, according to the city’s plans.

Beal did not disclose how much he plans to invest in renovations and building costs at the new site. He has hired Sopher Sparn Architects as the designer for the development and has yet to hire a general contractor.

Lately, developers have shown renewed interest in Colfax Avenue’s old motels. The White Swan Motel at 6060 W. Colfax Ave. is under new ownership as a temporary shelter for individuals in need. The new owner, Lauren Coleman, still plans to redevelop the property eventually, according to previous DBJ reporting.

Volunteers of America Colorado has proposed to tear down the Aristocrat Motor Hotel at 4855 W. Colfax Ave. and rebuild a four-story hotel as temporary housing as well, according to plans submitted to the city.

Meanwhile, San Antonio, Texas-based Kairoi Residential has demolished the former Ramada by Wyndham Denver Downtown at 1150 E. Colfax Ave. to make way for 334 new residential units and retail space. Another developer has proposed plans to tear down the Royal Palace Motel 1565 Colorado Blvd. to make way for 161 residential units.

COLFAX, La. (KALB) - Derrian Sapp, known to most as ‘Sapp’, left an impact on Grant Parish that will last forever. The candlelight vigil on Sunday, March 3, featured many tributes pouring in from every corner of the tight-knit town.

The city of Colfax came together to mourn the loss of a beloved public figure.

“It says that we are a community,” said Alderwoman Timika Hamilton-Price. “We know when we need to come together, and it was a good turn-out.”

Sapp, an alderman known for his unwavering dedication and kindness, left an indelible mark on this town.

“He helped anybody,” said Michael Green, pastor and Colfax resident. “Like I said, he never met a stranger. His character was so contagious that you couldn’t do anything but like him for who he was.”

On Sunday, the residents of Colfax gathered to pay tribute to Sapp, sharing stories and memories of his selfless acts of service.

“For the things that he’s done, not just for this town, but for everybody in every other town, he was there,” said one resident.

“Sapp loved God and he loved people,” added another, “He’s a friendly guy and we’re going to miss him -I’m going to miss him.”

Person after person came forward, each echoing the person before by expressing their gratitude for his impact on their lives.

“It hurts so bad because we were so close, so close,” said his sister.

“Wherever he was everybody was special, let us continue to love each other as he loved us,” said another resident.

“Anything I asked him to do he did it,” one woman remembered. “He wrote it down in that little notebook. What day you got this going on, or what day is that going on?”

As the candles continue to burn for Sapp, the residents of Colfax vow to carry on his legacy of compassion and generosity.

“He touched so many people,” said Shannon Jewell the organizer of the event. “He had so many friends and it just came to me I want to do something for Sapp in return. He has done so much for all of us out here.”

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Copyright 2024 KALB. All rights reserved.

COLFAX La. (KALB) - The Colfax-based community group called Central Louisiana Coalition for Clean and Healthy Environment (the Coalition) has filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for the permit renewal recently granted to Clean Harbors Colfax (CHC).

The lawsuit, filed with the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish, claims that LDEQ’s failure to classify a proposed contained burn chamber system at the CHC facility as an incinerator will “allow Clean Harbors to evade protections needed to safeguard human health and the environment.” The Coalition states that LDEQ’s actions are “unlawful and arbitrary.”

Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law group, is representing the Coalition. It argues that LDEQ used its own discretion in classifying the contained burn chamber system, which is not in line with EPA hazardous waste program standards.

”Under the law, there are minimum requirements that hazardous waste incinerators need to meet, and they can’t go any lower,” said Thein Chau, an associate attorney with Earthjustice. “By classifying this as something else, LDEQ has failed to ensure that Clean Harbors is going to meet those minimum requirements.”

The EPA’s RCRA requirements for equipment labeled miscellaneous units differ from those deemed hazardous waste incinerators. Those requirements include specifics in the chamber system’s design, operation, air monitoring, and response to a potential release of hazardous waste from the unit.

”It’s their job to issue permits for hazardous waste units, but they are not the experts in what the law says and they can get the law wrong,” said Chau. “So, we are going to the court here to tell them, ‘This is a straightforward legal issue.’ LDEQ failed to apply the law correctly despite the clear language here, and because of that, LDEQ has claimed undue discretion they don’t have to call this unit something else and fail to ensure that they’ll meet the minimum requirements.”

Going forward, the Coalition wants the courts to tell LDEQ to reclassify the controlled burn chamber system as an incinerator.

KALB tried to contact LDEQ for comment regarding the lawsuit, but the department did not immediately provide one.

The Coalition’s President, Brenda Vallee, gave KALB the following statement on the lawsuit:

Colfax community group sues LDEQ over Clean Harbors permit renewal by KALB DIGITAL on Scribd

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LSU SRP researchers are working with community members to understand the impacts of air pollution in Colfax, Louisiana, which is located near Clean Harbors Colfax, a commercial open burn/open detonation thermal treatment facility that processes a range of hazardous waste materials, including from Superfund sites. The latest issue of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Partnerships for Environmental Public Health Newsletter features LSU SRP researchers’ work using combined mapping of community interview data and quantitative pollution models to understand the spread of air pollution and its effects.

Read the full Partnerships for Environmental Public Health Newsletter article here.

Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, PhD, Leader of the LSU SRP “Hazardous Waste Thermal Treatment and Community Exposure to Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals” project and Associate Professor of the Practice in the Center for Geospatial Analytics at North Carolina State University, is the first author of the study, and LSU SRP team members Jennifer Irving, MPH, LSU SRP Research Translation Coordinator and graduate student in LSU’s Department of Environmental Science; Chuqi Guo, PhD, LSU SRP trainee and postdoctoral researcher; and Margaret Reams, PhD, LSU SRP Community Engagement Core Leader and Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at LSU, are among the co-authors.

Read the full article, "A community-integrated geographic information system study of air pollution exposure impacts in Colfax, LA," in the journal Local Environment.

Their study combines qualitative and quantitative information to analyze air pollution exposure impacts in the low-income, majority-Black Colfax community. These researchers’ mapping of data from different sources shows that community reports of negative health and property impacts correspond to quantitative air pollution dispersion model output and known health effects of the chemicals being burned. Commenting on this study, Dr. Richmond-Bryant noted,

"Our work has helped to validate the community members’ narratives about health and environmental effects experienced."

Heatmap indicating the geographical distribution of reports of respiratory disease around the Clean Harbors Colfax facility (the red plus sign indicates the location of the burn site), with yellow indicating the highest concentration of reports and blue indicating lower concentrations. Concentric red circles are at approximately 3-mile intervals, and self-reported respiratory disease is indicated by red dots.

In spring and fall 2022, Dr. Richmond-Bryant also led the creation of two LSU SRP Community Engagement Core reports on preliminary findings about air quality and health for distribution to Colfax community members. Explaining that this step is a planned part of the iterative community-integrated research process, Dr. Richmond-Bryant commented that “Our study design was based on community input, and the air pollution data we collect can then be given to the community members to empower them with the data behind their claims.”

A community report distributed in March 2022 provided residents with local maps illustrating how far pollution from the Clean Harbors Colfax facility likely travels into their communities and presented details on the amount of waste and types of materials burned. The models show that the pollution, at times, is expected to extend beyond 25 miles away from the facility, with the highest levels within 1 to 3 miles of the facility. The model also shows the highest emissions in spring and summer. Finally, the report summarized analyses of community interviews and public hearing comments, mapping reports of health problems in relation to the Clean Harbors Colfax facility. Specifically, the report mapped thyroid disease, skin damage, breathing problems, and cancer and summarized research findings linking specific chemicals found in the waste burned at Clean Harbors Colfax to these and other health outcomes.

Brenda Vallee

The fall 2022 report, distributed to community members in September, shared an overview of the different steps in the study timeline and presented the preliminary findings to date. In this report, the Community Engagement Core also described the three types of samplers set up in the area (high volume, passive, and electronic samplers), their purposes, and their locations. The report further summarized some of the chemicals present in waste exploded at Clean Harbors Colfax and their major health effects and illustrated computer model predictions that show—contrary to Clean Harbors Colfax’s repeated claims that no pollution travels outside their facility—that the pollution plume travels at least 20 miles away, covering many homes in the community. Preliminary results presented from the samplers show that the pollution concentration in the air in these communities was frequently high enough to be hazardous over time. The analyzed samples in a preliminary group of locations show the presence of environmentally persistent free radicals and small metal particles, both of which are particularly hazardous to human health.

Jen Irving

As a next step, after the outdoor air pollution sample collection campaign is complete, Dr. Richmond-Bryant’s team will be collecting and analyzing dust from community residents’ homes.

COLFAX, La. (KALB) - The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has released a preliminary draft of a permit that would stop the open burning and open detonation (OB/OD) of hazardous waste at the Clean Harbors Colfax (CHC) facility.

Clean Harbors Colfax is the only facility in the country that uses OB/OD practices to dispose of hazardous waste, including carcinogenic chemicals and explosives. Residents of Colfax and others in Grant Parish have long complained of health issues from silt and pollution falling on the community from CHC.

In 2022, CHC applied for a renewed operating permit, which would allow CHC to construct a ‘closed-burn unit’ and continue operating. Closed-burn units filter smoke and byproducts before being released into the atmosphere as more than 99% clean air. Those units are the industry standard. Yet, the original permit renewal would still allow 10% of CHC’s hazardous waste to be disposed of via OB/OD.

On March 15, LDEQ released a preliminary draft of the permit with its acceptable terms that CHC must meet in order to continue operating. Those terms include completely stopping OB/OD of any waste at the facility 180 days after the final permit is completed, and all waste must be disposed of via a contained burn chamber. Although the draft is not a final decision, residents who have voiced their disapproval of the OB/OD are excited that it could possibly come to an end.

“I’m very excited about this it’s very good news,” said Brenda Vallee, President of the Central Louisiana Coalition for Clean Air and Healthy Environment. “It’s been a long time coming and I’d like to thank the many people who have helped, no way I could name them all as its an extensive list. I’m happy, the people are happy, we will feel safer.”

State Senator for District 27 Jay Luneau has spoken out against CHC and the OB/OD practice since 2016. He shared his thoughts on LDEQ’s preliminary draft of the permit.

“It’s a win for the community, it’s a win for Grant Parish and it’s a win for the state of Louisiana and our citizens here,” said Senator Luneau. “We’re enforcing the rules that we have in place and laws that were passed. We’re saying to these folks like Clean Harbors ‘if you’re going to come into our state and do this then you’re going to abide by the rules.”

This draft of the permit is open to public comment until May 1, at which point the comments will be taken into consideration before LDEQ makes a final decision.

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Request for Public Comment by KALB DIGITAL on Scribd

Proposed Minor Source Air Permit by KALB DIGITAL on Scribd

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