Updates as information becomes available – and you are always welcome to send comments or questions to president@northgateparknc.org

If you haven’t already, please do join the Northgate Park Neighborhood Association, your support is essential in all we do.

Durham Parks & Rec information here

NC Department of Environmental Quality information here

LATEST UPDATES

November 15 –

• Initial waste delineation work should wrap up by the middle of next week.
  • Lyon Park – Monday to Tuesday
  • Finish East End next week
• Next step (likely early December): trenching and clearing at East Durham, Lyon Park, Northgate, and Walltown Parks to confirm the delineated waste boundaries
  • The clearing and trenching is being done to confirm the edge of that waste boundary.  Most of these areas are well away from the places that people frequent at the parks. Northgate and East End Park may be in more noticeable open field areas, FYI.
  • The clearing involves a small piece of equipment the size of a bobcat and the trenching is also done by a small mini excavator, so it doesn’t take up a lot of space.
  • Trenches will be backfilled and sod put down immediately to cover the investigation areas
• As we move into the holidays they don’t think they’ll have too many more field events

Here is the adjusted schedule for the rest of the delineation drilling and the proposed number of drilling days at each park

• East Durham Park – Drilling Completed.
• Northgate Park – Drilling Completed on 11/7.
• East End Park – Drilling Completed on 11/12.  We will need to go back to conduct additional drilling on the paint shop property (need additional access). This work should only take 1 day to complete.  The plan is to complete Lyon Park and circle back to East End on 11/20.
• Walltown Park – Drilling will be completed today (11/15).
• Lyon Park – 2 days (11/18 and 11/19).

November 1 –

Playgrounds at Pre-Regulatory Landfill Parks

• Playground soil testing by contractor S&ME is nearing completion.
• Clean fill soil has been approved for import to the playgrounds to repair the areas tested.
• Repairs by S&ME’s subcontractor will only take a few days to complete.
• S&ME sampling data will be sent to NCDEQ for review in the next few days.
• Once data has been reviewed by the State’s toxicologist, a report for NCDEQ will be finalized.

Additional Waste Delineation Drilling

• Waste delineation borings determine the vertical extent of waste, or how deep waste goes.
• Waste delineation has been finished at East Durham Park.
• Drillers have been scheduled to complete waste delineation borings at the four remaining parks:
  • Northgate Park – November 4 through November 11
  • East End Park – November 12 through November 8
  • Walltown Park – November 19 through November 22
  • Lyon Park – November 25 through November 26
  • This schedule may vary slightly as more or less waste is encountered at each park.

October 17 – NPNA community forum on lead testing, remediation, and Northgate Park with invited representatives from Durham Parks and Recreation and NC Dept of Environmental Quality. (Thanks to Keystone Church for providing both the venue and the video recording and Will Garde for facilitating the meeting)

October 17 – Commentary by Scott Washington

October 4 – soil testing of the playground at Northgate Park has been completed, however, the heavy rains impacted the contractor’s ability to fully repair the site. It’ll be another 1-2 weeks before they can bring clean soil in to repair the site. 

September 14 – through September 20, NCDEQ is out at Northgate Park removing mulch, gravel, and liners from underneath the three playgrounds in order to test the soils underneath for lead or other contaminants. They are not removing play equipment and the playgrounds are not being relocated. Once the materials are removed, soil is tested, and results are back, they will work with the community on a plan for re-opening the playgrounds safely.

August –

More information on the DPR website here