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ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A PUBLIC HEARING
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006
A Public Hearing was called to order by Chairman Tallarita in the Cafeteria of the Thomas Alcorn Elementary School, 1010 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, June 5, 2006. The Hearing was called to order at 7:05 p.m.
ROLL-CALL – Present were Councilmen Edgar, Hilinski, Lee, Mangini, Maxellon, Nelson, Peruta, Ragno, and Tallarita. Councilman Crowley entered at 7:10 p.m. and Councilman Kaupin entered at 7:12 p.m. Also present were Acting Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Christopher Bromson; Director of Finance, Gregory Simmons; Director of Public Works, John Kazmarski
Chairman Tallarita read the notice of Public Hearing which was published in the Journal Inquirer on Saturday, May 27, 2006 as follows:
TOWN OF ENFIELD
LEGAL NOTICE - PUBLIC HEARING
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006
“The Enfield Town Council will hold a Public Hearing in accordance with Chapter VI, Section 5 of the Enfield Town Charter at the Thomas Alcorn School Cafeteria, 1010 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, June 5, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. to allow interested citizens an opportunity to express their opinion regarding the proposed emergency appropriation for remediation of the Fermi High School athletic fields.”
Chairman Tallarita then announced the ground rules for the Public Hearing.
Present for this Public Hearing were Vincent McDermott of Milone & MacBroom; Director of School Facilities, Arthur Pongratz; Al Kovalik of GeoDesign; Kevin Neary of DEP and Meg Harvey of the Department of Public Health.
Mr. Kazmarski stated the remediation is based upon a plan prepared by Milone & MacBroom in conjunction with input from DPH, DEP, GeoDesign and Town staff.
Mr. McDermott displayed an illustration and noted the different highlighted areas will be remediated in one form or another. He explained the different types of remediation as follows:
· Darker green areas (entire area inside the fence of the current athletic fields)
Will be remediated by first killing the grass, tilling the grass to allow it to decompose, and covering that disturbance with six inches of clean topsoil purchased from offsite.
· The ten areas that reflect baseball diamonds, as well as what shows as a running track/football area will be remediated differently – in field diamonds have greater potential for individuals to come in contact with the soil and daily and weekly maintenance requires tilling and refreshing. In order to reduce the potential of the contaminated material from rising to the surface, those areas will be excavated and all of the soil in that area at the present time will be removed and replaced with topsoil.
· The areas in the track are a little different. He explained Enfield has bonded and they will be proceeding with plans for the construction of a track with a synthetic surface at this location. Excavation of existing material has to be excavated to accommodate stone which goes under the track as well as the bituminous surface on the track. At this time they are looking to excavate an average of 12 inches under the synthetic surface and 15 to 18 inches of excavation under the running track surface.
· Gray areas represent an area now used informally for the purpose of access from Moody Road onto the site. This is a dirt access and that will become an asphalt surface. They will excavate to a depth of a heavy driveway base in this area. The other gray area to the north end of the track is an area which will also be paved to allow booster groups to locate their equipment during games.
· They are proposing to also construct an ADA route.
· Light green areas represent areas that don’t have heavy activity in the form of play – the proposal is to kill off the grass, till it under and cap it with additional topsoil. DEP and DPH recommends only three inches of top soil for this area. He referred to areas adjacent to walkways and driveway and up against the building where grades are critical and noted simply adding topsoil could have an inverse or a reverse pitch and runoff could run into the building, therefore, they will fully excavate to a depth of six inches five feet adjacent to each walkway or driveway and at slopes around the building.
· Excavated material will be spread on the lowest part of the site, which is the northeast part of the site. He noted this will result in a better leveling of the site. Additionally, this area will be covered with six inches of topsoil which is required be the remediation specifications.
Mr. McDermott stated they do not want anyone using the fields until the new turf is fully established, which should be a couple months.
A person in the audience questioned the cost for this project, when the project will be done, and why not use artificial turf throughout the entire site. Mr. Kazmarski responded the total cost of remediation is $1,350,000, this project will go out for bid next Monday, and it’s intended to do the remediation work during the summer months when school is not in session. Mr. McDermott pointed out placing synthetic turf throughout the whole site would be cost prohibitive.
Jack Sheridan, 7 Buchanan Road
Questioned whether the remediation work will result in savings on the overall athletic field project, and Mr. McDermott responded no and stated the remediation work was not part of the original plan. He pointed out the $1,350,000 is above and beyond the improvements.
Mr. Sheridan questioned whether the contaminated material was at unacceptable levels throughout the whole site. Mr. Kovalik explained they did find contamination in the majority of samples, but the contamination wasn’t above criteria in all of the samples.
Mr. Sheridan questioned how this contaminant got onto this site. Mr. Kazmarski stated this material was legal to be used up until the mid 1970’s, and Fermi’s construction began in 1969 and 1970. He noted this material continued to be used in the early 1980’s as a household pesticide until it was totally banned.
Mr. Sheridan questioned whether this contaminant has a life cycle and shouldn’t it be somewhat diluted by now. Mr. Neary explained there’s very little breakdown of Dieldrin in the environment. He noted once it’s applied, it does breakdown, but very slowly. He pointed out this material hasn’t been applied for about 40 years, and it’s still present in the soil.
Mr. Sheridan questioned if the grass is contaminated as well, and Mr. Neary noted the grass acts as a barrier, however, grass can degrade and there can be worn spots and there can be contact with the soil.
Mr. Kazmarski stated there was concern the grass could have an effect on their maintenance force. He noted they had grass samples tested in a laboratory, and none of the pesticide compounds were found in those grass samples.
Councilman Lee questioned if any portion of the $1,350,000 is reimbursable by the State of Connecticut. Mr. Pongratz stated there have been preliminary discussions with the State Department of Education, and they believe they can treat this as a code violation and the Town would be eligible for the percentage they would normally get on a code violation project, which is approximately 66%. He noted they will be meeting with the State this Friday for plan approval prior to the Town going out to bid on the project, therefore, they should have a good idea of having that opportunity of reimbursement in hand by this Friday.
Margaret Jedziniak, 232 Abbe Road
Questioned who brought this contaminated material to the Fermi site. She noted if this information is known, she hopes the Town would not do any more business with that firm. Chairman Tallarita stated his belief that material was brought in during the construction process, and they suspect when that soil was brought in, that material wasn’t a known contaminant.
Charles Woods, 11 Westerly Drive
Questioned at what depths they first hit this pesticide. Mr. Kazmarski stated it was found at various levels throughout the site. Mr. Woods questioned how they came up with the 6” of material, and Mr. Kazmarski stated that is the amount recommended by DEP.
Mrs. Collins, the Hazardville Section
Questioned how can it be safe to go on those grounds now. Councilman Hilinski pointed out DEP indicated it would be safe to hold the graduation ceremony on those grounds.
Mrs. Collins questioned whether the $1,350,000 is coming out of the bond money for the fields. Chairman Tallarita responded no, because the bond funds are specific to the renovation of the Fermi and Enfield High fields. He explained the $1,350,000 for the remediation work will come from the Town’s fund balance. He noted they will be applying to the State Department of Education to get a 66% reimbursement from the State.
Referring to renovation work of the Fermi fields, Councilman Nelson questioned whether the original plan was to haul in any topsoil. Mr. Kazmarski stated there was a plan to bring in some topsoil, but not a significant amount. Councilman Nelson stated his impression they should be able to eliminate that cost on the renovation of the fields. Mr. McDermott stated the amount of topsoil in the original plan was really insignificant and only to dress up some edges. He noted Enfield High School’s renovation work is decidedly different in that they have an under-drainage problem. He went on to note the side benefit of the Fermi remediation work is that the overall quality of the turf at the end of this work will be significantly better than anticipated only by happenstance.
Councilman Nelson questioned the application of a pesticide to kill the grass at Fermi, and Mr. McDermott responded they are applying an herbicide which kills off the turf but has no lingering effect.
Jack Sheridan, 7 Buchanan Road
Questioned whether the soil was tested at Enfield High School, and Mr. Kazmarski responded yes, and it was absolutely clean.
Mr. Sheridan questioned whether they’ll be testing the new soil being brought to the Fermi site, and Mr. McDermott responded yes.
Mr. Sheridan referred to Chapter VI, Section 5 of the Charter and noted an emergency has to be declared. He questioned who made this determination. He noted if it’s okay to walk on this site and it’s okay to mow the grass, how can this be classified as an emergency. Attorney Bromson stated this can be life threatening if there’s long-term exposure. He noted legally, it’s sufficient under the Charter to have declared it for this purpose. Chairman Tallarita stated all of their decisions have been made in consultation with DEP, DPH, and local health officials. Mr. Kazmarski stated before Town staff did any maintenance or mowing of this site, there was a meeting with all of them with the representative from the DPH, and she explained everything and the risk criteria, and they are aware of the fact that because there are no pesticides in the grass itself, there is no health hazard to them with the very limited amount of time they spend at the site. He added they were told to stay away from the bare areas.
Frank Jedziniak, 232 Abbe Road
Stated this is a very important issue, and he’s very disappointed that more effort hasn’t been made to get more attendance by the public. Councilman Nelson pointed out this meeting was published in the newspaper. He noted he saw this meeting notice in the newspaper, and he expected more people to show up.
Charles Woods, 11 Westerly Drive
Questioned if the Town gets the 66% reimbursement, will that money go to the Town or the School System. Chairman Tallarita stated that money would go back to the Town to replenish the Fund Balance.
Susan Lavelli-Hozempa, Enfield Board of Education member
Questioned if there’s a time frame as to when they will get an answer from the State. Mr. Pongratz stated his hope they will have an answer this Friday. He noted this also goes before the State Legislature in their session next fall, and actual approval could happen in May of 2007 with funds appropriated in July, 2007.
Margaret Jedziniak, 232 Abbe Road
Questioned if the contaminated material may have been hauled in while it was illegal. Chairman Tallarita stated there is no historical knowledge, nor any documents that there were any major renovations to those fields since Fermi or its fields were constructed. He stated his understanding the last time those fields were worked on was when Fermi was constructed. Mr. Kazmarski agreed, and that material was brought in
in conjunction with the development of the entire site, and the school received a certificate of occupancy in 1971.
Ms. Jedziniak stated she had heard otherwise. Chairman Tallarita stated he has never heard otherwise. Councilman Edgar stated his belief no soil was brought onto the site after the school was constructed.
As no others wished to speak, Chairman Tallarita closed the Public Hearing at 7:55 p.m. |