WOODBINE – A $1 million federal grant Woodbine was expecting earlier this year to fund the cleanup of four contaminated properties has been awarded and the work has begun, the borough’s consultant on the project said.
The consultant, Tom Maher of Taylor Wiseman & Taylor, said the first $750,000 of the Department of Agriculture Rural Development Grant has been awarded, with the remainder coming pending final paperwork.
The funds were delayed for a time as the Trump administration reviewed a wide range of federal grant programs.
The money will be used to clean up four properties: the former F&S Landfill site, the former M.R.D. Hat Company site, the Woodbine Municipal Airport and the former Woodbine High School site.
Maher said the borough has been able to start a required preliminary assessment of the old school property.
He anticipates that the preliminary assessment, which he said would summarize site history, current site conditions and previous environmental findings, will be finished in July.
“It is required to be completed so that a response action outcome can be issued in the future,” he said.
Maher said they do not have an exact location of the former school building yet, as it will require some photogrammetry and ground-penetrating radar work to find its foundations.
“We expect that this location work will be completed soon,” he said.
Maher added that work at the other three sites has not started yet. There is a federal deadline of 2030 for completing all remediation work, but he said the work is expected to be finished before that deadline.
The school site is the smallest of the projects at 2.2 acres. The hat company site is slightly larger at 2.5 acres and involves the removal of underground storage tanks.
The landfill is more than 115 acres and when completed will be the site of a solar array. The airport, which dates back to World War II, is nearly 660 acres, and the borough’s contractor will be looking for the existence of PFAs, chemicals that are linked to certain health problems, including some types of cancer.
The school also had underground storage tanks, and any contamination from the tanks and the demolition of the school will be investigated.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
