Pictures of the recommended AME Metea Site

[EagleDad]

There has been some discussion recently of the hazzards surrounding the AME Metea site. I thought it would be good to share some photos that were taken yesterday and given to me. Sorry for the size, but they loose too much detail if made any smaller.


From the new school's parking lot:

Another from the parking lot:

The new school site as it will be seen from Diehl road (you'll have to imagine the new pride of our district back in there):

Up close and personal with the new neighbors to the North:

Another of the area just to the North:

Some of the local wildlife:

(OK I made that last one up ;D )

I have to ask. Is this the best we can do for our kids and our district? Is this worth opening a year early? Consider, Hamman is actually less expensive and has no permanent hazzards that will remain, fuel tanks to be removed or wetland to be mitigated.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

EagleDad

[forthekids]

Back in 1990, the school in Ashbury was going to be very near power lines, one set of lines, and there was such an uproar in the community that the developer changed the site of the school.
Maybe someone needs to start an uproar over these power lines. There are sure a lot of them!

[gumby]

eagledad said:

There has been some discussion recently of the hazzards surrounding the AME Metea site. I thought it would be good to share some photos that were taken yesterday and given to me. Sorry for the size, but they loose too much detail if made any smaller.

Those look terrible!

[momto4]

EagleDad - how about some photos showing the site itself (just plain farmland), or to the west (Eola Road and a farmhouse and pond and neighborhoods), or the south (houses), or to the east (empty land, then trees, then railroad tracks and power lines further off)?

[EagleDad]

momto4 - Sorry, I dont have any handy. It would take me 45 minutes to get up there and snap some (probably worse with weekend mall traffic). If you live closer (like across the street) maybe you could get some. It might be good to snap a few of the industrial warehouses lining the land to the East and a few standing 100 feet off of Eola Road looking out on it, which according to the plans is where the front of the school will be. If it helps, 100 feet is about 33 paces.

You're welcome to post them here.

[ziggy]

eagledad said:

There has been some discussion recently of the hazzards surrounding the AME Metea site. I thought it would be good to share some photos that were taken yesterday and given to me. Sorry for the size, but they loose too much detail if made any smaller.


From the new school's parking lot:

Another from the parking lot:

The new school site as it will be seen from Diehl road (you'll have to imagine the new pride of our district back in there):

Up close and personal with the new neighbors to the North:

Another of the area just to the North:

Some of the local wildlife:

(OK I made that last one up ;D )

I have to ask. Is this the best we can do for our kids and our district? Is this worth opening a year early? Consider, Hamman is actually less expensive and has no permanent hazzards that will remain, fuel tanks to be removed or wetland to be mitigated.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

EagleDad

Some of these on posterboards @ the public feedback as a backdrop for the questions you are all assembling here along with some actual scale maps might at least allow for an opposing view before the vote. ( not that ihat it likely will matter )

[momto4]

eagledad said:

momto4 - Sorry, I dont have any handy. It would take me 45 minutes to get up there and snap some (probably worse with weekend mall traffic). If you live closer (like across the street) maybe you could get some. It might be good to snap a few of the industrial warehouses lining the land to the East and a few standing 100 feet off of Eola Road looking out on it, which according to the plans is where the front of the school will be. If it helps, 100 feet is about 33 paces.

You're welcome to post them here.

I might just do that. WE to AME does not take anywhere near 45 minutes in any kind of traffic. I think it is less than 25 minutes drive one way during the absolute worst of rush hour traffic. I have made this drive hundreds of times at different times of day. Why would you drive through mall traffic to get up here?

[rj]

momto4 said:

EagleDad - how about some photos showing the site itself (just plain farmland), or to the west (Eola Road and a farmhouse and pond and neighborhoods), or the south (houses), or to the east (empty land, then trees, then railroad tracks and power lines further off)?

Now that wouldn't fit the agenda, now would it?
I was thinking the same thing. Those pics eagledad posted zoomed in on the alleged threats don't really show how far they are from where the actual building will be.

If I have time later I will go take some pics of what the property actually looks like to put it in an unbiased perspective.

One question for eagledad, did you ever consider the health risks related to the BB farm site? Over the years there have been thousands of tons of toxic fertilizers, pesticides including anhydrous ammonia dumped on the soil, many before EPA regulation. Not to mention all the exhaust particulates from the diesel powered farm equipment landing on the ground.

Sounds to me like that site would have some health risks involved also. Actually, I am sure one could find some kind of adverse supposed threat at any of the sites if we looked hard enough.

[ziggy]

rj said:

momto4 said:

EagleDad - how about some photos showing the site itself (just plain farmland), or to the west (Eola Road and a farmhouse and pond and neighborhoods), or the south (houses), or to the east (empty land, then trees, then railroad tracks and power lines further off)?

Now that wouldn't fit the agenda, now would it?
I was thinking the same thing. Those pics eagledad posted zoomed in on the alleged threats don't really show how far they are from where the actual building will be.

If I have time later I will go take some pics of what the property actually looks like to put it in an unbiased perspective.

One question for eagledad, did you ever consider the health risks related to the BB farm site? Over the years there have been thousands of tons of toxic fertilizers, pesticides including anhydrous ammonia dumped on the soil, many before EPA regulation. Not to mention all the exhaust particulates from the diesel powered farm equipment landing on the ground.

Sounds to me like that site would have some health risks involved also. Actually, I am sure one could find some kind of adverse supposed threat at any of the sites if we looked hard enough.

don't worry I am sure we'll see plenty of pictures of just the site on Tuesday - doubtful however we'd see these.
kinda like Fox News, fair and balanced.


If we are worried about the contamination of the farmland here-- then we all need to sell our homes, because that is what we are all sitting on top of.

[EagleDad]

Sorry for showing the inconvient truths everyone, but I think people should know. Please remember the first two photos from a location believed to be the school parking lot. I think they show the proximity of the substation well. No digital zooming or retouching was applied.

As for fertilizer being applied to farmland, that goes away each season. Huge Power tower tend to stay around. Given that all of our homes are on what was probably farmland, I think we need not worry too much about that.

[yeson321]

ziggy said:

rj said:

Now that wouldn't fit the agenda, now would it?
I was thinking the same thing. Those pics eagledad posted zoomed in on the alleged threats don't really show how far they are from where the actual building will be.

If I have time later I will go take some pics of what the property actually looks like to put it in an unbiased perspective.

One question for eagledad, did you ever consider the health risks related to the BB farm site? Over the years there have been thousands of tons of toxic fertilizers, pesticides including anhydrous ammonia dumped on the soil, many before EPA regulation. Not to mention all the exhaust particulates from the diesel powered farm equipment landing on the ground.

Sounds to me like that site would have some health risks involved also. Actually, I am sure one could find some kind of adverse supposed threat at any of the sites if we looked hard enough.

don't worry I am sure we'll see plenty of pictures of just the site on Tuesday - doubtful however we'd see these.
kinda like Fox News, fair and balanced.


If we are worried about the contamination of the farmland here-- then we all need to sell our homes, because that is what we are all sitting on top of.

I was just about to post the same thing regarding our houses historically being farm land.

Those pictues certainly look like an unbiased perspective, showing what is to the North and East. People close by should also post the South and West so we get the 360 degree view. Aren't the athletic fields going to have the North view and the Church will enjoy the South?

[sam2]

IMHO, the value of this board is diminished when we start posting misleading info. YEs, those are actual photos, but they do not represent the site, at all. Try this link to an aerial photo of the site. The northern bounday is the prairie path. The towers in the photos are to the North and Eest of the site.

Yes, they are there and may be a hazard, but let's be somewhat honest in our editorial positions. Thanks

PS: I just tired the link and find that you have to drag the map to the south and east to see the site. The green arrow marks Diehl and Eola.



maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=diehl+and+eola+aurora&sll=40.69535,-73.88522&sspn=0.458134,0.895386&ie=UTF8&ll=41.793121,-88.235385&spn=0.014078,0.027981&t=h&z=15&om=0

[gatormom]

I have been doing some digging around about the Hamman farm site. Kind of interesting the stuff I am learning.

Did you know that there is an existing landfill butting on the eastern edgeo of that property? It has been capped but there is an existing environmental concern with that. Who knows what has been dumped there and who would be paying for cleanup.

I also found out that in the annexation agreement from 2003, a water tower needs to be constructed on the land. The existing City's water supply system is not able to get water to the far southern part of the property without being detrimental to the water service for the residents just to the north. This is for safety as the water supply is not sufficient for fire protection.

ETA: I have reminded that I am off topic. I was only responding to the original post suggesting waiting a year and putting the school on Hamman. Sorry.

[EagleDad]

sam2, you are right - I'll show an aerial view I was using in old posts on this site for a while:

[sam2]

Eagledad:

Yours is a much better post than mine. Thanks.

A few small points. The "power thingy" is teh peaker plant that is being removed. The "industrial manufacturing" is actually warehousing, a catering firm, comcast and possibly some very light manufacturing. This is the industrial park where i've worked for 26 years -- there is very, very little manufacturing in this park.