Politics & Government

Avery Dirt Pile Would Cost $500K to Remove

The School Building Rehabilitation Committee heard bid prices to remove all of the soil.

Barring an accounting miracle, it would be financially impossible for the School Building Rehabilitation Committee to have 11,000 square yards of dirt hauled off-site, the committee learned this week.

on Whiting Avenue and Hazelnut Place for the past year, but wasn't a major issue with neighbors until construction crews surrounding the pile.

Neighbors are looking to the SBRC for a fix - both for the pile of soil and replacement of trees. A dozen residents attended Monday's SBRC meeting.

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The committee considered removing all of the soil and sending it to a landfill - they've been told the soil is not of structural grade, and therefore doesn't have much value - but that would cost $492,800, plus other fees. Removing half the soil, which would significantly reduce the height of the pile, would cost $246,800. 

"So we have a range of prices," committee chair Michael Butler said. "It is not gold. There is a significant cost to hauling off-site, given that it is a relatively less desirable type of soil."

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In an original project budget, consultants budgeted $100,000 for dealing with soil. 

"It wasn't based on quanity, it was an arbitruary number," said Todd McCabe, a project manager from Consigli Construction Co. "We said, 'let's put something in the budget for dealing with soil.'"

In November 2010, in an effort to reduce the size of the budget, the committee voted unanimously to cut that line item, according to committee records.

With conservative accounting estimates of $300,000 left in the project's contingency funds, the committee likely will look to other alternatives.

"It's attempting to mitigate the impact of that particular strip of land. There are a few other items on the list [for contingency funds]," Butler said. "The number will change."

Those alternatives include replacing the trees and grading out the pile either where it stands now - or .

That would bring more neighbors into the discussion, but reduce the size of the hill behind homes.

This week, more neighbors expressed privacy concerns because the pile rises high above their property, giving anyone accessing the pile clear sight into backyards and windows that didn't previous exist.

Butler didn't set a next meeting date, but cautioned that it could be next month because of the approaching holidays. 

While construction continues on pace with the rest of the grounds, the question of the dirt pile has slowed down landscaping work in the northeast corner of the work site. Crews have been told not to clear any more brush or trees until the committee reaches a decision on the soil pile. 

"Nothing is starting until this committee give us direction," project manager Jim Byrne said. "There is no sense in doing it if we are doing the grading."

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