County officials were called in to investigate a strange smell at an AvalonBay construction site that has people in the area calling the town to complain.
PRINCETON - Mercer County health officials were called into Princeton Thursday morning after the town received more complaints from residents regarding a strange smell coming from the AvalonBay construction site.
The county will be monitoring the site over the next few days, according to town engineer Robert Kiser.
Workers from AvalonBay have been applying an epoxy at the parking garage on the site of their 280-unit housing project on Witherspoon Avenue, according to Kiser.
Town officials believe that epoxy has been creating a bad smell that residents and people driving through the area have complained about in the past few weeks.
But the complaints got more frequent on Wednesday, even after Kiser and town health officer Jeff Grosser visited the site Wednesday afternoon.
Grosser said Wednesday that he doesn't believe the smell is harmful but that he called Mercer County health officials in for additional investigation.
Officials from the county and Princeton met with AvalonBay representatives Thursday morning to discuss the issue.
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AvalonBay representatives told the town that they had been applying the first layer of the epoxy, which emits a particularly bad smell, according to Kiser. They finished the first coat on Wednesday and plan to finish the rest of the coating project by Friday afternoon, according to Kiser.
He added that AvalonBay representatives said the rest of the project should produce less of an odor.
Mercer County health officials will be monitoring the area in case the smell worsens.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.