Rockland apartment company says it warned residents about asbestos removal

ROCKLAND, Mass. — More people are coming forward about their concerns of being exposed to a toxic substance inside their apartments.

Residents turned to Boston 25 when they realized the 'bathroom upgrades' they were waiting on turned out to be dangerous asbestos removal. Now, they're worried about their health after hearing the state's Department of Environment Protection officials are investigating.

We spoke to multiple residents who all say they thought Spring Gate apartments were undergoing bathroom renovations.

Many didn’t want to be identified because they still live there.

“Nothing at the time was mentioned about the asbestos,” one woman told Boston 25.

The story came to Boston 25 News as a tip.

A tenant called the DEP after seeing workers removing asbestos. The DEP ordered the work to stop and alerted residents about several 'potential' violations including "improper containment" and "asbestos-containing debris outside of work area without proper containment and exposed to ambient air."

Video recorded Tuesday by a tenant shows someone taping up the plastic over the dumpster where construction debris was tossed.

“They were carrying things out, asbestos that was not in the proper bags or contained,” resident Melissa Ladd told Boston 25.

Spring Gate Apartments, which is owned by First Hartford Reality Corp. out of Connecticut sent us a new statement Tuesday, which read in part, "all Spring Gate residents have been kept up-to-date and informed of the presence of asbestos abatement work well in advance of the recent relocations."

The company also sent us documents they say they shared with tenants dating back to 2015 explaining the long term asbestos abatement plan.

First Hartford Realty has submitted a new work plan for the asbestos removal, but the state says the work stoppage will stay in effect until the plan is finalized.

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