Post by WeBe204 on Mar 11, 2008 6:15:46 GMT -6
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 board members approved more than $8.6 million in pre-construction contracts for the new Metea Valley High School Monday, despite being served earlier in the day with a lawsuit aimed at halting the project and without releasing key environmental information on the Eola Road site.
Board members, except for absent member Jeanette Clark, voted unanimously to approve contracts for the grading, excavation, precast walls and roof, and materials testing, pending the annexation of the St. John AME and Midwest Generation properties into the city of Aurora, the district's possession of the title to the property, and the completion of a special meeting to discuss the first two phases of soil and other environmental tests on the site.
President Mark Metzger said the board intended to release both phases of the soil studies but were denied permission by the experts who prepared the data. That information, he said, is expected to be able to be released within the next week.
He did reiterate, however, that any contaminants found on the former peaker plant site were easily remediated.
Industry experts did, however, tell board members that the electromagnetic field ratings were "on the average, similar to very common background levels encountered in everyday life" and that the three natural gas transmission pipelines several thousand feet east of the high school boundary would be inspected externally twice a year and internally once every seven years.
"I don't see anything to worry about. Period," Environ principal Gary Crawford told board members about the power lines 220 feet east of the site's boundary. "We see no concerns or risks from those electromagnetic fields."
Dee Bennett, operations manager for the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC, told district officials that the company maintains internal monitoring of all of its facilities in addition to regulations imposed by the United State Department of Transportation.
Those concerns, as well as the pending results of the soil and environmental tests, were also subject of the lawsuit served upon the district Monday morning by the recently formed Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, who are represented by environmental attorney Shawn Collins.
In his suit, Collins alleges the district knew the potential dangers of the Eola site before voters approved the $125 million tax increase in March 2006 and that the recent decision to purchase the property for Metea Valley High School was made "in ignorance or disregard of serious environmental and safety issues and threats which the district has failed to adequately address."
That, he said, is why the Brach-Brodie property, near 75th Street and Commons Drive, was targeted for the new Metea Valley before a condemnation jury valued the land at $17 million more than the district planned to spend. Earlier this year, the district abandoned its pursuit of the Brach-Brodie property and agreed to purchase the Eola Road site.
"You can't play rope-a-dope with the electorate like that," Collins said. "Voters were clearly asked to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to Brach-Brodie, not to give the district money for whatever they want."
The complaint, which is expected to be heard in coming weeks, also asks the court to prohibit the district from closing on the Eola site later this month and force it to instead purchase the Brach-Brodie site. Attorney Steve Helm, representing the Brach-Brodie trust, said the property has not been sold and would still be available to the district.
"There's no reason to think Brach-Brodie wouldn't at least be receptive to talking to the school district about selling that site to the district as we thought we would be all along," Helm said Monday afternoon.
After Monday's board meeting, members met for about an hour behind closed doors. Metzger said they discussed the Collins suit but made no decisions other than to hire co-counsel to work with the district's firm to defend the suit. He also confirmed the district would not be initiating renegotiations to purchase the Brach-Brodie site.
"Absolutely not," Metzger said. "We can't afford it and build a school on it at their asking price. It's that simple."
Board members, except for absent member Jeanette Clark, voted unanimously to approve contracts for the grading, excavation, precast walls and roof, and materials testing, pending the annexation of the St. John AME and Midwest Generation properties into the city of Aurora, the district's possession of the title to the property, and the completion of a special meeting to discuss the first two phases of soil and other environmental tests on the site.
President Mark Metzger said the board intended to release both phases of the soil studies but were denied permission by the experts who prepared the data. That information, he said, is expected to be able to be released within the next week.
He did reiterate, however, that any contaminants found on the former peaker plant site were easily remediated.
Industry experts did, however, tell board members that the electromagnetic field ratings were "on the average, similar to very common background levels encountered in everyday life" and that the three natural gas transmission pipelines several thousand feet east of the high school boundary would be inspected externally twice a year and internally once every seven years.
"I don't see anything to worry about. Period," Environ principal Gary Crawford told board members about the power lines 220 feet east of the site's boundary. "We see no concerns or risks from those electromagnetic fields."
Dee Bennett, operations manager for the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC, told district officials that the company maintains internal monitoring of all of its facilities in addition to regulations imposed by the United State Department of Transportation.
Those concerns, as well as the pending results of the soil and environmental tests, were also subject of the lawsuit served upon the district Monday morning by the recently formed Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, who are represented by environmental attorney Shawn Collins.
In his suit, Collins alleges the district knew the potential dangers of the Eola site before voters approved the $125 million tax increase in March 2006 and that the recent decision to purchase the property for Metea Valley High School was made "in ignorance or disregard of serious environmental and safety issues and threats which the district has failed to adequately address."
That, he said, is why the Brach-Brodie property, near 75th Street and Commons Drive, was targeted for the new Metea Valley before a condemnation jury valued the land at $17 million more than the district planned to spend. Earlier this year, the district abandoned its pursuit of the Brach-Brodie property and agreed to purchase the Eola Road site.
"You can't play rope-a-dope with the electorate like that," Collins said. "Voters were clearly asked to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to Brach-Brodie, not to give the district money for whatever they want."
The complaint, which is expected to be heard in coming weeks, also asks the court to prohibit the district from closing on the Eola site later this month and force it to instead purchase the Brach-Brodie site. Attorney Steve Helm, representing the Brach-Brodie trust, said the property has not been sold and would still be available to the district.
"There's no reason to think Brach-Brodie wouldn't at least be receptive to talking to the school district about selling that site to the district as we thought we would be all along," Helm said Monday afternoon.
After Monday's board meeting, members met for about an hour behind closed doors. Metzger said they discussed the Collins suit but made no decisions other than to hire co-counsel to work with the district's firm to defend the suit. He also confirmed the district would not be initiating renegotiations to purchase the Brach-Brodie site.
"Absolutely not," Metzger said. "We can't afford it and build a school on it at their asking price. It's that simple."
Just wondering...