Discovery of additional asbestos sites and more underground pipes than expected slowed progress over summer
By Katie Wagner
Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — The contractor hired to remove asbestos-covered steam pipes from the former North Princeton Developmental Center, was unable to complete work on an area approximately 500 feet northeast of the Village Elementary School before the first day of school, officials have confirmed.
The contractor, Weston Solutions Inc., ceased work at the site prior to the resumption of classes at the Village Elementary School on Sept. 10, according to Mayor Cecilia Birge. She said that Weston will not resume the pipe removal work until it presents a plan to township officials.
Weston and township officials were scheduled to meet today to discuss the matter, Township Engineer Gail Smith said on Monday.
Confronted by unhappy parents during last week’s Township Committee meeting, Mayor Birge acknowledged that Weston had promised to finish working in “the spaghetti area”— the name township officials have used to refer to the location, — before the start of the current school year.
”In the spring, Weston did promise the Township Committee they would finish this stretch,” Mayor Birge told the parents. “They always promised the spaghetti area.”
However, the discovery by Brandenburg of asbestos tiles in the former “Hillier homes,” one-story frame housing units designed by Hillier Architecture, postponed Weston’s start of pipe removal from the spaghetti area until August, the mayor said in a phone interview following the committee meeting. In addition Weston discovered an additional 20,000 to 25,000 feet of pipe underground in August, with 600 of those feet located in the spaghetti area, she said.
”The compressed schedule of the demolition project has created a lot of problems with coordination” between Brandenburg, the contractor hired to do demolition work at the site; Weston Solutions; and the township oversight consultant, the mayor said.
Kim Galatro, mother of a Village Elementary School student, said during last week’s Township Committee meeting that she might have looked into sending her child to another school if she had known Weston’s work had been delayed sooner than when she was informed.
”The fact that they (Weston) didn’t know there was all that pipe under there, I don’t trust them,” Ms. Galatro said. “They have robbed some of us parents.”
Township resident Bill Randolph, also speaking at the meeting, said the Township Committee has been disingenuous with residents regarding work at the former NPDC.
”I understand 12 children were pulled from school, because their parents were concerned about people walking by in spacesuits,” Mr. Randolph said. “Weston didn’t make the deadline. We were assured there’d be no asbestos cleanup when the children were in school,” he said.
According to township officials, Weston is currently not working on the site and no asbestos cleanup has occurred since classes have been in session, but Brandenburg has been doing grading and seeding work during school hours.
Of the unfinished asbestos removal work, Mayor Birge said, “We (the Township Committee) believe that Weston, assuming we don’t compromise safety, can perform this work when kids are not in school. There has been conversation and I think Weston seems comfortable with this.”
According to Mayor Birge, Weston informed the township on Sept. 5 that it would be unable to complete work in the spaghetti area before school started. On the same day, Mayor Birge said, she shared this information with the Montgomery Township Board of Education, the Village Elementary School PTA and the Community Advisory Board. She also provided an update on the site at the Sept. 11 Board of Education meeting.
According to the school district’s communications manager Frances Chaves, the Board of Education, Mayor Birge and representatives from Weston met with the Village Elementary School PTA on Sept. 12 to inform parents of the company’s failure to complete asbestos abatement in the spaghetti area.
Susan Lacey, principal of Village Elementary School, said no student has transferred out of Village Elementary since the first day of school.
”It’s important to address both the public safety and environmental health risks associated with the site and the perceived risks that some of the parents may have,” Mayor Birge said after last week’s committee meeting.
”I think every parent is happy to see the tremendous amount of progress we made on the site,” she said. “It’s much cleaner, beautiful and pleasant than it was five months ago. It’s undeniable that the township has achieved a great deal in the past five months, something the state failed to achieve in the last 10 years.”

