The fight goes on over Roosevelt demolition

KEEGO HARBOR/WEST BLOOMFIELD — The decision about whether or not Roosevelt Elementary School in Keego Harbor will be demolished remains at a standstill.

The most recent major development came April 30 when the Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion for stay, pending an appeal that was filed by Heart of the Lakes Community Inc., a nonprofit that filed a lawsuit against the West Bloomfield School District in an attempt to stop demolition of the building.

That decision means that “any action in furtherance of the demolition of the Roosevelt School Building is stayed pending resolution of the appeal or further order of the Court,” states the Court of Appeals.

While waiting for a decision, opponents of demolition continue to make their case.

In a letter to the Beacon, Heart of the Lakes stated that last August, the West Bloomfield School District hired Arch Environmental to conduct an asbestos inspection report for Roosevelt, which confirmed that “Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) were abundantly present in more than 65,000 square feet of the building and estimated the cost to abate could be up to $816,000.”

However, in February, when the district received bids for the abatement, the bids were “shockingly low, between $93,000 and $200,000,” according to the Heart of the Lakes letter.

A representative for Arch Environmental could not be reached for comment.

“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 states.

At a West Bloomfield School District 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.

According to Heart of the Lakes, on April 8, Environmental Maintenance Engineers submitted a notice to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy – EGLE – that they were going to abate 9,500 square feet of asbestos, the letter from Heart of the Lakes  states.

Timothy Mullins, who is an attorney representing the school district on behalf of Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton P.C., addressed the rationale for why 65,000 square feet of the building is not being abated.

“That’s the size of the building in its totality, but asbestos is only in certain portions of the building, as was confirmed by specific testing and specific test results, which were released to the bidders,” Mullins said. “That’s what they bid on. … When experts came in and conducted the studies, they showed there’s this many square feet of the building that may have asbestos in it and require abatement, and that’s what they bid on, and that’s what the contracts were awarded on. … There was a determination as to what would need to be abated, and bids were submitted in accordance with the studies that showed where there was and where there was not asbestos.”

According to Mullins, EGLE conducted testing “a couple months ago.”

“They went to all these different areas of the building and, negative, negative, negative, negative,” he said. “I know all the claims that people are making in their attempt to stop this from being torn down, but factually, there’s no factual basis.”

An EGLE Air Quality Division inspection was conducted April 17, according to an inspection report that was provided to the Beacon.

It states that EGLE-AQD sample results were returned April 23.

“All six samples taken returned results that were negative for asbestos content,” the report states. “All samples collected were from areas that the consultant identified plaster as non-asbestos containing. The roof was also identified in the Arch report as non-asbestos containing.”

The report goes on to state that an EGLE asbestos program manager proposed the recommendation that “all plaster from the second and third floors be treated as if it were regulated asbestos containing materials (RACM) out of an abundance of caution.”

At press time, EGLE had not responded to opportunities to comment.

Michael Kelly is the owner of Environmental Maintenance Engineers, which is based in Inkster.

He said there is “nothing to comment on,” in regard to the allegation that bids were altered to financially justify demolition.

“We haven’t been given any directive, other than the project’s on hold,” he said. “It’s off our plate right now. We’re involved in quite a bit of other work.”

Brad Babbitt is a member of Heart of the Lakes. Among the reasons for opposing demolition, he cited what is perhaps the biggest concern for some residents.

“We’re afraid of potential contamination by not abating all of the asbestos in that building, which should be done,” Babbitt said. “So that’s an endangerment to the community, and it’s also financially irresponsible. It doesn’t make any sense to take a building that’s perfectly sound and demolish it when developers want to make it into something that would really be special for the community. We just don’t understand why West Bloomfield’s doing this.”

According to Kelly, there is no health risk.

“(There’s) a consultant that oversees the work,” he said. “We’ve been working with the district for years – never had any issues on their sites. Asbestos abatement is going on (in) districts all over the metropolitan area, currently.”

Mullins also weighed in on the concern some residents have about potential environmental damage.

“Buildings are torn down all the time,” he said. “There’s a certain way to do it; that’s why you do the asbestos abatement before you do the demolition, so there’s no asbestos in there when you do the demolition. … That’s why you do asbestos abatement, so there is no danger to anybody’s health.”

Heart of the Lakes’ assertion is that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, “there is no safe level of asbestos, and even in the best scenario for abatement and demolition, nothing is 100%.”

According to a National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Asbestos Inspection Report for the Roosevelt building, several asbestos-containing materials “which may be impacted by any building renovations or demolition” were identified.

When Mullins spoke with the Beacon, he was expecting a decision from the Court of Appeals within a month or two.

One of Babbitts’ aspirations is for the Board of Education to have contractors submit new asbestos bids.

Babbitt said that the district’s motivation for wanting the Roosevelt building demolished is a “big mystery.”

“It would be much better to keep the building (and) sell it for a profit of $2 million, versus holding the land (and) demolishing the building at a loss of a million dollars,” he said. “The district should be forced to give a reason.”

Local resident Christian Sonneville recently filed a complaint against West Bloomfield School District Superintendent Dania Bazzi with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel over the asbestos bids. A request for comment from Bazzi was not returned by press time.

“Residents and taxpayer funded bond money is being needlessly wasted on the demolition of an historic building instead of accepting one of the offers to purchase and repurpose this structurally sound school building. Costs would appear to have been kept artificially low to hide eventual cost overruns of as much as $1,000,000. The school district is not fiscally responsible with taxpayer funds.”

According to a statement attributed to Mullins, the complaint is unfounded, as Circuit Court Judge Phyllis McMillen ruled that the district complied with all appropriate procedures.

“While this case is pending in the Court of Appeals, we are confident that Judge McMillen’s ruling in favor of the District will be upheld,” the statement reads. “Should Mr. Sonneville have any further evidence, he should submit it to the court. After an unfounded complaint was submitted to Environmental Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), EGLE conducted follow-up testing at the Roosevelt site and found zero asbestos in the 11 samples they tested. … The District works closely with an environmental consultant, Arch Environmental Group, and has conducted extensive testing, following all applicable laws in the abatement and demolition process.”