Chatfield School PCB cleanup to cost $500G

SEYMOUR — The discovery of “trace amounts” of PCBs at Chatfield School will not halt the planned expansion, but it will cost a half million dollars to eradicate the toxins from the school’s exterior windows and brickwork.Chatfield School Building Committee Co-Chairman Don Smith updated the Board of Selectmen Tuesday on the $32.5 million project that will add 50,000 square feet of space, and renovate 38,000 square feet of existing space to the 44-year-old elementary school on Skokorat Street.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PCBs have caused cancer and have other adverse health effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.At Chatfield School, PCBs were found in the caulking around some of the outside windows. Indoor air quality tests have been done to ensure the air is safe when students and staff return to school this fall. Smith said the committee is awaiting the results of those tests.Smith said a plan to remove the PCBs has been approved by the EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection. The plan includes the replacement of all affected windows, which Smith said was already planned in the project expansion, as well as removal of the affected brickwork and soil below the windows, where Smith said the PCBs migrated.The $500,000 price tag to eradicate the problem, Smith said, is available in the project’s contingency fund.As part of the abatement plan, Smith said the committee must apprise residents of the discovery of the PCBs, and have a detailed remediation plan to rid the facility of the toxins.“It’s not that extensive (the amount of PCBs found),” Smith said. “But we are on the leading edge of it, and will have everything removed.”Smith also said that the state recently approved Seymour’s 60.36 percent reimbursement rate. With construction documents complete, Smith said they will be sent to the state Department of Facilities Review Unit for approval. Smith hopes to break ground in October.The project, which residents approved at an October 2008 referendum, includes a two-story addition with 37 classrooms, and will accommodate students from Chatfield and LoPresti schools. The gymnasium will also be expanded, the entire building will be air conditioned and heating will provided by an energy-efficient geothermal system.Smith expects the project will go out to bid next month. The new classroom wing should be ready for occupancy in September 2011, while other renovations should be done by October 2011. LoPresti students are slated to occupy the school in September 2012.