Over the last several months a small but dedicated group of local residents have been fundraising to build a playground in the village of Ellenville. While the Ellenville Playground Committee has made significant headway in raising funds to cover the project's $100,000 price tag, some residents have raised concerns about the playground's proposed location, the site of a former dump on Berme Road.

Maxine Chapin, a retired teacher from the Ellenville High School, considers herself an activist interested in environmental issues, and says she is for the playground but questions its location. She believes the toxins in the soil on the proposed playground site are similar in composition and amounts to Superfund sites in the area she has been tracking, including one at the Ellenville Scrap Iron Metal Yard, which is now closed and the subject of several lawsuits.

"We are being lied to," says Chapin. "I am talking about Agent Orange and other cancer causing toxins, such as Chromium 6, the stuff that Erin Brockovich sued over and won. We don't know how long it will be before they leech out but they will."

Chapin added that she is concerned that children will be playing in and perhaps "eating" the dirt.

Ellenville Village Mager Elliott Auerbach acknowledges that the site was once a dump, but says tests done on the soil in 1996 showed the area to be safe.

Ellenville Playground Project coordinator Fawn Morosky, a regular contributor to the Ellenville Journal, says she was told of the soil test when she first went to Auerbach with the idea of a playground but has never actually seen it.

"I just saw that spot and thought it would a perfect place for a playground. He told me it was safe and I believed him," admits Morosky.

"The test predates me and I am in search of those answers," says Auerbach.

The search might be difficult. A call to Mike Knipfing, Citizen Participation Specialist at the New Paltz office of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) revealed no record that his organization has ever tested the Berme Road site.

"Our files go back thirty years and a preliminary search gave no indication that the surface soil at the Berme Road site was tested."

A search for the property on the Environmental Protection Agency's website also showed no record of soil tests. As of press time calls to the EPA were not returned. Auerbach says, "We want to put all concerns to rest, so we have put out a call to bid for a new soil study to be done."

But Chapin says the DEC or the EPA should be called in to do the test and not an independent contractor hired by the village.

The Village of Ellenville, which owns the property, received a $25,000 grant from New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation, which is tied to the location of the playground.

"The grant is area specific, not site specific," believes Auerbach.

If new soil tests indicated toxic levels of contaminants, such as lead or mercury, the playground location could be moved to another village-owned property, without losing the funding, possibly by amending the grant, says Auerbach.

Other options might include looking for a replacement funding source or presenting a "member item" in the State Assembly or Senate.

Morosky says that new plans would need to be drawn up at additional cost if the playground site needed to be changed but she concludes, "In the off chance the soil is found to be unsafe, we will continue fundraising and working towards building a playground in Ellenville at the new location that the village will give us. We are just a small group of people that wanted to see something a little better than you can order out of a catalog."

You can read the EPA report for the Ellenville Scrap Iron And Metal Superfund site at: http://www.weitzlux.com/environmentallawsuit/newyork/ellenvillescrapironan/EllenvilleScrapIronAndMetal_146445.html#report

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