Robbinsdale Middle School to clean up '50s landfill

Armed with a $600,000 grant, Robbinsdale Middle School will rid its grounds of what's left of a subterranean landfill that no one knew existed when the building was constructed in the 1950s.

By NORMAN DRAPER, Star Tribune

Last update: July 14, 2009 - 11:01 PM

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Robbinsdale Middle School is about to dispose of a dump.

Underneath a sizable chunk of the school grounds is an old landfill littered with tires, paint cans, oil and other petroleum-product containers, and downed trees, among other refuse. The dump was there in the 1950s when the school district bought the site for the 1956 construction of the old Robbinsdale High School, but at the time no one knew of its existence.

It was only in 2004, when some work was being done on the playing fields on the south side of the building that workers started digging up evidence of the landfill. That part was cleaned up that year, and the playing fields replaced. But further testing revealed a problem on another part of the school grounds. The proper agencies had to be alerted and consulted, more testing done, and funding had to be secured for additional cleanup work.

Now, with the help of a Hennepin County grant, the district plans to clean up the site, digging four feet down across an 18,000-square-foot expanse of tennis courts, playgrounds and fields to dispose of the landfill once and for all.

"Four feet of soil is quite an amount of cubic feet of soil," said Robbinsdale district spokesman Jeff Dehler. "So there will be a significant amount of work that happens. ... We will remove the soil from the current surface area, have it safely removed, and put it in some kind of contaminated-soil space, wherever the state reserves space for that kind of stuff."

Dehler said the underlying landfill is a run-of-the-mill sort that used to be common.

"It's just like dozens and dozens of sites all over the place," he said. "There was not care taken years ago to appropriately dispose of some waste that could contaminate soil or groundwater."

Dehler said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) was contacted when the site was discovered. He said the district has taken precautions to ensure there are no risks posed to the adjoining building, which last year housed the district's elementary school Spanish Immersion program as well as the middle school, and will house only the enlarged middle school starting this fall.

"They have tested inside the building to find out if there's any contaminated soil underneath the building, and there is not," Dehler said. "And if there is any environmental impact to the building. They tested the water and air quality, and there is no contamination."

Dehler said the main contamination concerns cited by the MPCA at this point are asbestos fibers, if any, that might be disturbed when the site is dug up. That means special precautions will need to be taken, such as removing landfill debris in covered trucks.

Dehler said little is known about the site, other than that it is really old.

"There are things nobody ever charted, because nobody was going to build houses that far out from Minneapolis. Maybe it would even predate the city of Robbinsdale."

Robbinsdale doesn't have to pay for the cleanup. The soil removal and replacement with four feet of clean soil will be covered by a $600,000 grant from the county. The district will, however have to pay to replace the tennis courts, which district officials plan to do, and the playground, which they are considering.

This project will complete the cleanup. It's slated to start next June and wrap up by the start of the 2010-11 school year.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547