Test results say remove contaminated soil and build the new Central School
Published on May 10th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Around 2,500 cubic yards of potentially toxic soil will be carted away from the earth surrounding the new Central School site.
This is good news, however, because the option would have been to shut the site down. The environmental engineers of Gale Associates of Pembroke say the site can be cleaned and the school built.
The new school will be built as planned on a site to the east of the Middle School at the corner of Central and William Streets. No contamination was ever found on the foundation footprint of the proposed elementary school.
Tests conducted by Gale in April discovered arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the railroad bed area behind the school site in levels that triggered immediate notification of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). (The standards to trigger notification were introduced as part of a 1993 statute.)
PAHs cause cancer in lab rats, but arsenic, ingested or inhaled in more than 60 parts per million, can kill people, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry.
On May 3 Town Administrator Jeff Nutting told School Building Committee members not to worry about the fate of the new Central School.
"There will be additional costs, but they will be paid for...whether we get state reimbursement or have to make a stabilization transfer," Nutting said.
Nutting also said the town would probably file suit against former owners of the property as is standard in environmental liability cases.
After Gale finalizes the details of necessary remediation and clears the work with the DEP and the Stoneham Conservation Commission, Earl Flansburgh Associates of Boston, architects for the School Department, will add an addendum to the construction contract which will go out to bid in late May. A construction company will do both the environmental clean-up work and the school construction with the goal of completing the foundation / excavation work before students return to the adjacent Middle School in September.
Delays in the construction schedule could push the work into the fall. Middle School parents and school officials have said they want the bulk of the work done while school is out. Delaying the work until next summer would throw off the school building project schedule and jeopardize the 63 percent state reimbursement funding.
Work will proceed under the guidelines of the Immediate Response Action plan Gale has filed with DEP:
•The top one foot of soil will be removed along the unpaved edges of a 650 foot, paved, temporary construction access road running along the railroad right of way behind the school site out to Central Street. The total soil to be removed from the area is estimated at 1,500 cubic yards. Concentrations of arsenic and PAHs over 40 parts per million were found in the area.
After removal the area will be filled to its original grade and paved.
•Soil will be excavated to a depth of three feet in the 12-foot by 12-foot areas surrounding two small pockets with high arsenic concentrations located on the railroad bed east of the school site. The reportable level is 30 parts per million. More than 100 parts per million of arsenic were discovered in these areas. The total soil to be removed is estimated at 30 to 50 cubic yards.
After removal the area will be filled to its original grade.
•A 600 foot strip of land behind the school site will be used to place scaffolding and operate equipment. This "construction zone" will be excavated to a depth of two feet to remove soil with 30-40 parts per million levels of arsenic and PAHs. Gale estimates 800 cubic yards must be removed.
After removal the area will be filled to a grade specified in construction plans.
•Air monitoring will be required.
•Dust control and suppression measures will be required, e.g. wetting down soil.
•Stockpiled soil will be transported to a temporary storage facility (Stevens Street Recycling Center).
•Soil will be transported covered and by carriers licensed to transfer hazardous materials.
•The stockpiled material will be placed on asphalt and encapsulated in plastic.
•Additional debris and railroad ties will also be removed and properly disposed of in the aforementioned manner.
•Composite samples of stockpiled materials will be collected to determine appropriate disposal parameters.
•Tests will be taken throughout the removal process of all areas to determine whether further remediation is necessary.
Some surface water tests are still pending.
And as for the easement onto Cataldo's property - the old Mann Chemical parcel - Gale's proposal requests testing the area where the access road and easement intersect.
All of this will take time and cost money. Nutting says Gale should have the remediation details to Flansburgh by the end of the week. As for costs, Nutting said there are still too many variables to make a good estimate.
But he does promise two things: It will be expensive, and the town will pay.
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