Costs Keep Increasing in Moorestown Library Demolition Project

Moorestown, NJ -- The old library was home to an abnormally large amount of asbestos, which has led to two change orders and the need to exceed 20 percent of the original contract price for the demolition.

The second change order was approved as part of the consent agenda during Monday night’s council meeting at town hall. A $70,000 change order to remove asbestos from behind the walls was approved in December.

Council approved an ordinance on first reading to set aside $160,000 and borrow $152,000 to be used for the project. The public hearing and second reading is scheduled for Feb. 22.

The original contract awarded to Meco Demolition Inc. in October was for $421,000.

“We had a bid to demolish a building that we knew had asbestos, but we didn’t account for all the asbestos? It seems like something else should’ve been done,” said Councilwoman Lisa Petriello, who joined council after the initial contract had been negotiated and the first change order was passed. ”I hope we can learn from this. It sounds like we’re stuck, but I hope we can come out of this smarter for the next time.”

She asked what the township could’ve done differently, but the answers indicated there wasn’t much it could’ve done.

The asbestos discovered behind the walls was found by the demolition company after the contract was awarded.

On Monday night, Township Engineer James Ruddiman said the township initially put aside $10,000 for asbestos remediation because it expected to find asbestos in the floor tiles and the fire doors.

However, Meco Demolition brought in its own environmental expert to conduct an analysis. Additional asbestos was found in the adhesive tape used to glue the ceiling tiles to the roof, as well as in the drywall.

Following that remediation, more of the building was demolished, and additional asbestos was discovered in a 2-foot area on three sides of the basement wall, and the entire basement wall on the fourth side.

The contractor said it could remediate the newly-discovered asbestos for $159,412.96, but could go no lower.

“What if we tried to go lower,” Mayor Phil Garwood asked.

“The contractor could leave the site and we’d have to go out for bid,” Ruddiman said. “We’d have to pay for the demobilization and remobilization, and the cost we end up getting could be more or it could be less.”

Ruddiman said the additional asbestos would’ve been impossible to find without conducting a destructive testing, i.e., ripping up tiles and tearing down walls by the township prior to demolition.

“How much effort would it really have taken to do this destructive testing?” resident Roger Boyell asked. “It was being destroyed! You could’ve gotten samples of what you need. It’s not a trace element somewhere in the water, it’s something we knew about.”

However, officials said they would’ve had no reason to believe they would find that much asbestos because the old library and the old town hall were built at the same time by the same construction company.

The old town hall didn’t have nearly the same amount of asbestos that was discovered in the old library building.

The buildings were built in 1973, and Ruddiman said it wasn’t common practice to use adhesive tape containing asbestos at that time. He said the township has the drawings of the design for the old library, but not the specifications.

“Once you knew it was on the adhesive, it would be reasonable to think it would be in the basement too,” Deputy Mayor Victoria Napolitano said. “Shouldn’t the contractor have considered that?”

“You say we’re going to have to spend this money one way or another, but we don’t have to,” Boyell said. “ … What would a reasonable person do if a plumber said they would replace their sink for $100, then they start taking the sink out and say ‘Well, now it’s going to cost $150?’ They’d tell them to go home, and they’d find a new plumber.”