Phoenixville board scraps plan to put school near Superfund site

The Phoenixville Area school board tonight scrapped a two-year-old plan to locate an elementary school next to a Superfund site - a proposal that provoked intense controversy in recent weeks.

Before the vote, about a dozen residents, including a cancer survivor, urged the board not to put the district's children at risk.

"I'm a board-certified toxicologist, but more importantly, I'm a parent," said Conney W. Berger Jr. "There is no way you can get rid of all risk . . . however, this is an absolute no."

Donna Jackson, a parent, said the fact that the district needed "testing, experts, reports, and an environmental lawyer" suggested the plan was fraught with peril.

In the end, the citizens' concerns trumped the district's scientific data, which had sanctioned the site near the intersection of Cold Stream Road and Route 113. The board voted 6-to-2 to abandon the project, receiving a standing ovation from a crowd of more than 100.

Retiring Superintendent David Noyes, who also received a standing ovation for his seven years of service, said after the vote that the next administration would have to find a way to recover almost $4 million.

Noyes said that the land was purchased for $1.85 million in 2005 and that money had been spent on architectural and environmental studies.

"All the experts said it was safe, but emotion took over," Noyes said after the vote.

Many of the opponents said they learned of the project in the last month and were appalled.

Fred Romano, a parent and physician, said he attended the last board meeting and was challenged for not coming forward sooner.

"Apparently we've been in the dark," he said, adding that he collected 375 signatures in four days from citizens who shared his fears.

After the vote, he called the $4 million cost to taxpayers "a bitter pill to swallow," but felt "it was worth it."

Before the meeting, Romano and a dozen other members of the newly formed Coalition of Concerned Citizens held a news conference in front of Phoenixville High School to voice their opposition to the project.

Paul Gottlieb, a Pennsylvania Education Association representative, said the EPA cited risk but called it "reasonable," which he found unacceptable. "No unnecessary risk is reasonable, especially when there are other properties," he said.

The 45-acre Superfund site - across the street from the proposed school - was used previously for manufacturing resin, textile and asphalt products. The former owner, Ciba-Geigy Corp., now Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., disposed of residue in eight lagoons on the property.

An October letter from a Ciba attorney labeled the district's plans for the school "ill-advised," but Ron Miller, the district's chief of operations, said the company ignored a request to provide specifics.

Donna Jakubowski, a Ciba spokeswoman, did not return repeated telephone calls.

In 2002, Ciba and two other firms admitted no liability ina confidential settlement regarding a higher-than-usual rate of childhood cancer in Toms River, N.J., home of two Superfund sites.