Roosevelt demo still on hold

KEEGO HARBOR — Heart of the Lakes Community Inc., a nonprofit that filed a lawsuit against the West Bloomfield School District in an attempt to prevent the former Roosevelt Elementary School from demolition,  recently got some favorable news.

On July 2, the Court of Appeals granted the nonprofit’s application for leave to appeal.

“This … means the demolition will remain stayed (WBSD can’t demolish Roosevelt) while we brief the issues stated in our application for leave,” Brad Babbitt, who is part of the Heart of the Lakes group, stated via email. “The right to appeal means we now have a few months to write a longer, more detailed brief. It will be similar to our application for leave, but longer, with even more words and explanation. Then WBSD will respond, we will file a reply, and the court will hear oral arguments later in the year.”

According to Babbitt, the decision also means that the Heart of the Lakes can submit additional arguments about what they said was a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act by the district.

Another development came July 8, when the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy responded to concerns about the potential for environmental damage if the building is demolished.

In April, EGLE visited Roosevelt to conduct an inspection.

“The upshot of the inspection report is that while our sampling didn’t score any asbestos hits, we are recommending to the school district they treat the entire 2nd and 3rd floor plaster as if it had asbestos present based on the plaster work, which is of an inconsistent nature,” states an email from EGLE. “The bottom line is because of the inconsistency in the plaster application, asbestos could be present in one area, but not the next only (a) few inches away. It would not be possible to run enough tests to adequately map any potential asbestos in the plaster, hence our recommendation. That’s why we do not plan any further testing prior to potential abatement. … It would not provide any additional actionable information, and is covered by our recommendation.”

According to a letter sent to the Beacon on behalf of Heart of the Lakes, the West Bloomfield School District hired Arch Environmental to conduct an asbestos inspection report last August, which stated that materials containing asbestos were abundantly present in more than 65,000 square feet of the building.

However, this past April, according to Heart of the Lakes, Environmental Maintenance Engineers, which was approved by the West Bloomfield Board of Education for asbestos abatement work, submitted a notice to EGLE that they were going to abate 9,500 square feet of asbestos, “just 1/7 of the required 65,000 square feet.”

At press time, no representatives from Arch or Environmental Maintenance Engineers had replied for comment, but a representative from Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C. sent a statement that was attributed to Arch Environmental Group Inc.

“AEG completed all inspection work in strict accordance with the EPA’s Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) regulation and the EPA’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) regulation, and all bulk sampling was conducted following sampling procedures and strategies outlined in these regulations,” reads the statement. “In many cases, sampling was conducted in multiple stages to go above and beyond regulatory requirements. The additional sampling was done in an abundance of caution to provide additional support and provide results consistent with initial sampling. … We would like to reiterate that all asbestos consulting (and related inspection and sampling) services conducted at Roosevelt Elementary School have been carried out in full compliance with all regulations and standards.”

According to local resident Christian Sonneville, a retired structural and civil engineer, the three-story Roosevelt building has about 162,000 square feet of plaster walls and ceilings, which is about 54,000 square feet per floor.

According to Keego resident Susan Emerling, who is part of Heart of the Lakes, it can be difficult to get a thorough understanding of the asbestos situation, because based on a conversation that she had with an EGLE representative, it’s been “plastered and replastered many, many times by many different providers over the years.”

Timothy Mullins, an attorney representing the school district on behalf of Giarmarco, Mullins and Horton P.C., was asked about EGLE’s recommendation that the district treat the entire second and third floor plaster as if it had asbestos present.

“I don’t have a response to that,” Mullins said. “The district is proceeding based upon the court ruling as it exists and what the courts decide to do. The school (district) has hired licensed, certified, appropriate people to do testing, to conduct matters appropriate with all codes and regulations, and right now nothing’s happening, so we’ll wait to see what the court says and we’ll decide how we’re going to proceed from there.”

According to a press release, Eric Abramson, who is an asbestos lawyer with Serling and Abramson PC, is a homeowner in the “breathing zone” of Roosevelt.

“As a resident and community member, I am deeply worried about the asbestos abatement process at Roosevelt Elementary,” Abramson stated in the release. “From our view of the testing documents, the very limited testing done is not sufficient to identify all of the asbestos-containing materials throughout the building. If you are going to conduct a legitimate survey for asbestos-containing materials, you have to look in all places known to contain asbestos, such as piping and mechanical rooms and equipment throughout the entire building or else it must be assumed that there are asbestos-containing materials present.”

Abramson stated that with the information that has been received, there are “concerns remaining.”

“It’s the responsibility of the school district to be fully transparent about their findings. Cutting corners to save on cost cannot take precedent over community safety,” Abramson stated. “I’ve talked with many community members who share my concern about whether required abatement procedures will be followed, given the proposed budget. The health and safety of our community must be the top priority.”

According to Heart of the Lakes, Arch Environmental estimated that abatement costs would be up to $816,000. However, at a Board of Education meeting last March, board members voted to award asbestos abatement work to Environmental Maintenance Engineers for $93,000, and building demolition to International Construction for $465,000, totaling $558,000.

“By using these suspiciously low bids, WBSD made demolition and selling the vacant land appear financially justifiable vs selling the building, and the Board of Ed. approved the low bids,” the letter from Heart of the Lakes states.

Mullins indicated that he is not aware of when a court decision about Roosevelt will come, and he said he did not know whether the delay is changing anything with the bids.

Although donations and fundraising have helped to drive Heart of the Lakes’ cause, Emerling understands that taking on a school district is no easy task, but she said she is optimistic.

Despite EGLE stating that it has no position on the potential demolition of the Roosevelt building, the concern residents have about a potential health risk was addressed.

“No demolition is risk-free,” a statement from EGLE reads. “We are committed to overseeing any future abatement and demolition to ensure it complies with all applicable laws and statutes to protect public health and the environment.”

Emerling shared the outcome that she hopes for.

“My No. 1 hope is that we have a school board, whether it takes electing new people onto it or whether it takes an (epiphany) of the people on the school board, to change their minds and hearts and start treating the public with the respect the public deserves,” she said. “Start really thinking about the health of the community, the wellbeing of the children and the people that they serve, and start being open and honest with the community. They have asked for community input, and they have ignored us for over a year now.”