The Warsaw Board of Works was informed Friday morning the burned-out remains of The Butterfly has been cleared for demolition.

According to Building Commissioner Gene Oliver, the delay in bringing down what is left of the electronic business gutted in a fire Sept. 27, was a state requirement that it be verified the building debris contained no asbestos.

The fire also destroyed Warsaw Tool Company.

"We did testing though Gruvogel & Associates from Granger, Ind. They said there was no presence of any asbestos," Oliver said. "It's just standard to delay demolition until the asbestos hazard is determined.

"We cooperated with Jay Warnacut and his insurance company to expedite the testing. I'm very pleased with the way we all worked as a team to get the testing completed," he said. "There is a 10-day waiting period before the demolition can take place."

G&G Excavating has been contracted to do the demolition, Oliver said.

Jay Warnacut confirmed the test results and said he expects demolition to begin within two weeks.

"It (the test result) was too long in coming, but we're happy to have the results in and to be able to move forward," said Jay Warnacut, co-owner of the Butterfly. "We expect to be rebuilding back at that location as soon as possible."

In other business, the board authorized City Planner Jeff Noffsinger to apply for an Indiana Department of Commerce grant for a bike trail from the City-County Athletic Complex on Old U.S. 30 to Winona Lake.

"The grant is for designing and engineering a bike-way project," he said.

The grant would be a $10,000 matching grant that will be used in conjunction with a grant received from the Kosciusko County Foundation, Noffsinger said.

"This is a very competitive process, with $75,000 available for this round of funding," he said.

A decision is expected by mid-December. [[In-content Ad]]