Remediation Starts At Gould Manor Park After Contamination Found

FAIRFIELD, CT — Remediation has started at Gould Manor Park, the first Fairfield site where contaminants were reported this summer in connection with illegal dumping and contaminated fill at the public works yard.

Work to remediate the park began Friday, according to Health Department Director Sands Cleary, after test results revealed elevated arsenic and lead levels, as well as asbestos shingles, along a stretch of sidewalk at the site.

The project is expected to take about 10 days, Cleary said. The estimated cost for the work is roughly $120,000 to remediate 400 tons of material, Conservation Director and Interim Superintendent of Public Works Brian Carey told the Board of Finance at a meeting Oct. 1.

Workers will remove the material between the street curb and the sidewalk along the entire length of the walkway, and in select sections of the other side of the sidewalk closer to the main park area, Cleary said. The park will remain open, although work areas will be cordoned off, he said.

RED Technologies has been hired for the project and the waste will be taken to a facility near Niagra in upstate New York for disposal, Carey said at the meeting. The next time the sidewalk is replaced the town may need to remediate the material underneath it, he said.

Gould Manor Park was tested for contaminants after Fairfield police and the state's attorney requested in early August that the site be evaluated due to concerns that contaminated fill from the public works yard was used for a 2013-14 sidewalk improvement project. Later than month, the town named 19 additional sites as high-priority testing locations, all of which received material from the public works yard between 2013 and 2016, when contractor Julian Development was operating the yard's fill pile.

A total of 60 areas in Fairfield have since been evaluated for contamination, and 50 have been deemed safe. Up to 42 more locations may still be tested.

Fairfield's contamination controversy happened after the town hired Julian to operate its public works yard and reduce the size of a pile of unused project material by 40,000 cubic yards. Over the next three years, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement was set to end, PCBs and lead were discovered on the property.

Former director of public works Joe Michelangelo, former superintendent of public works Scott Bartlett and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian were charged in connection with the pile around the same time contamination was reported at Gould Manor Park. The charges against them include larceny, forgery and dumping.

In addition to the criminal cases, Fairfield has sued Julian for millions in damages and Julian has sued the town for defamation.