The Brandywine Board of Education gives the green light to a preliminary plan for soil remediation at the future site of the Bush Early Learning Center.
The district recently gained ownership of what was a part of the Brandywine Country Club, but before work can commence, the district needs to address arsenic in the soil. Arsenic was commonly used in the 1980s as a pesticide.
“You're allowed to mix the soils up and get it to a level where it's below by mixing up with other soils, but that does not close the case on the property,” said John Read, Brandywine’s director of facilities. “The proper way to deal with it is to remove it.”
To do that, contractors will need to take out around 5 acres of dirt to a depth of anywhere from six inches to two feet.
"We’ve hired an environmental consultant who's been working there for eight years. They've come up with a plan that's been approved by DNREC, and we do have a place to take the soils to,” Read told Board of Education members. “It's going to be used as topping at the Cherry Island landfill.”
He also assured board members that this was an anticipated expense.
“We have known about this and we have budgeted for this,” he said.
In response to a question from a board member, Read also noted that this project is not costing the district any money, thanks to “special school status” granted by the state.
“This is a 100% state-funded project,” Read explained. “This is included in extraordinary site conditions.”
While the school won’t sit directly on the land being remediated, it is adjacent to the site.
While testing the soil, Read says, they found some good news that will affect the construction of the new early learning center.
“We've also done testing on the site for boulders because we know that that's an issue in North Wilmington,” he said. “We've gone and done probes all over the area where the building's going to go and we've not hit anything above 6 feet in depth, so we don't think we're going to have any problems there.”
The soil removal is expected to take two or three months, and Read says they want to schedule it to happen at a time when the weather is generally dry to avoid tracking mud from dump trucks onto nearby streets.
The Brandywine Board of Education approved the preliminary removal plan unanimously.
