Post by sushi on Apr 5, 2008 6:20:05 GMT -6
Testing on Metea site inadequate, lawyer says
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 4/4/2008 3:52 PM | Updated: 4/4/2008 8:23 PM
Whatever the results of recent environmental studies in Indian Prairie Unit District 204, they likely won't be enough to quiet attorney Shawn Collins and parents opposed to building Metea Valley High School along Eola Road.
Testing Service Corporation representatives are scheduled Monday to detail the findings of their study of the 87-acre site south of Diehl Road near Aurora.
"There's nothing that will be said Monday that will change my opinion that the site is disqualified as a location of a school because of the overhead power lines and the high-pressure natural gas pipelines," Collins said Friday. "Nothing changes my views that this is not a place where thousands of kids and teachers should be every day."
Collins is representing a grassroots organization, Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, in a lawsuit filed against the district last month in DuPage County. The suit is asking the court to force District 204 to buy the Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive, in part, because of those environmental concerns.
The district originally targeted the Brach-Brodie land for the high school but backed away when a jury in condemnation proceedings set the price of the property at $17 million more than officials were willing to pay.
School board President Mark Metzger and other district officials have claimed for weeks that they have studied the environmental reports with the experts and are satisfied the Eola Road land is safe.
They have confirmed that traces of diesel fuel were found in six of 55 soil borings taken at the site, but they insist that material can be cleaned up easily.
A large portion of the site has housed a peaker power plant for about 40 years. It has been inactive for more than a year, but Collins said such plants have "environmental histories."
Collins said any testing that was done is, at best, inadequate. A thorough test, he said, would have to include thousands of borings throughout the entire site.
"For a site like this, for the testing to be meaningful, borings should have been done on all 87 acres, and I doubt they were," Collins said. "You want to do multiple tests in a grid format on every acre to give yourself the best chance to find any problem there."
The testing he's talking about could take several months, he said, and would likely interfere with the scheduled August 2009 opening of the 3,000-student school.
"This board's desire to open the school in 2009 is driving this," Collins said. "When that becomes more important than resolving safety questions, their priorities are way, way out of whack."
The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora. Collins will not be in attendance but he said several of his clients will be.
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 4/4/2008 3:52 PM | Updated: 4/4/2008 8:23 PM
Whatever the results of recent environmental studies in Indian Prairie Unit District 204, they likely won't be enough to quiet attorney Shawn Collins and parents opposed to building Metea Valley High School along Eola Road.
Testing Service Corporation representatives are scheduled Monday to detail the findings of their study of the 87-acre site south of Diehl Road near Aurora.
"There's nothing that will be said Monday that will change my opinion that the site is disqualified as a location of a school because of the overhead power lines and the high-pressure natural gas pipelines," Collins said Friday. "Nothing changes my views that this is not a place where thousands of kids and teachers should be every day."
Collins is representing a grassroots organization, Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, in a lawsuit filed against the district last month in DuPage County. The suit is asking the court to force District 204 to buy the Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive, in part, because of those environmental concerns.
The district originally targeted the Brach-Brodie land for the high school but backed away when a jury in condemnation proceedings set the price of the property at $17 million more than officials were willing to pay.
School board President Mark Metzger and other district officials have claimed for weeks that they have studied the environmental reports with the experts and are satisfied the Eola Road land is safe.
They have confirmed that traces of diesel fuel were found in six of 55 soil borings taken at the site, but they insist that material can be cleaned up easily.
A large portion of the site has housed a peaker power plant for about 40 years. It has been inactive for more than a year, but Collins said such plants have "environmental histories."
Collins said any testing that was done is, at best, inadequate. A thorough test, he said, would have to include thousands of borings throughout the entire site.
"For a site like this, for the testing to be meaningful, borings should have been done on all 87 acres, and I doubt they were," Collins said. "You want to do multiple tests in a grid format on every acre to give yourself the best chance to find any problem there."
The testing he's talking about could take several months, he said, and would likely interfere with the scheduled August 2009 opening of the 3,000-student school.
"This board's desire to open the school in 2009 is driving this," Collins said. "When that becomes more important than resolving safety questions, their priorities are way, way out of whack."
The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora. Collins will not be in attendance but he said several of his clients will be.