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By Christina Veiga
cveiga@MiamiHerald.com
From The City Of Homestead Website: http://www.cityofhomestead.com/pages/business/bid-detail.aspx?recordNo=137Homestead City Hall may be contaminated with radon — a radioactive, cancer-causing gas — and is infected with mold, dust mites and asbestos, according to a recent environmental report.
More testing is needed to confirm whether radon levels at City Hall are unacceptably high, but the initial discovery has renewed talks about potentially building a new city hall.
Councilwoman Judy Waldman suggested moving staff immediately until the radon can be brought down to safe levels.
“Right now, this building is sick,” she said, noting her own allergies seem to be aggravated whenever she’s in City Hall.
The city recently ordered an environmental review of Homestead City Hall. The investigation found that radon levels were at more than two times the levels recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The environmental review also found elevated levels of dust mites and mold growing throughout city hall. The mold problem has affected the city’s record-keeping, with boxes of documents destroyed or off-limits to staff, City Manager George Gretsas said.
Another environmental issue found asbestos in a duct connector of an air handling unit.
Gretsas told council members about the environmental issues while discussing the city’s short- and long-term capital needs projects. Council members agreed to take another look at the issue, including maybe renewing plans for a new city hall, once more testing is completed.
“We don’t really have much choice here but to get the results and to come back to you with a remediation plan, because if these numbers stay the same or worse, we’re going to have to talk about some short term ways to get this down,” Gretsas told council members. “But the longer term thing is: add this to the pile of things you need to address with city hall.”
Homestead scrapped plans for a new city hall in 2009 over concerns it’d cost too much. Up until then, the city had spent more than $6 million acquiring land and paying for other project costs. Plans called for a $20 million, 60,000 square foot building in downtown Homestead.
The city’s budget is still squeezed, though. Homestead has suffered years of declining property values.
But the high levels of radon found at city hall may speed up plans for a new building, as council members weigh the cost of mitigation versus new construction.
Radon is a naturally occurring gas that is released by decaying uranium in soil and water, according to the EPA. The agency estimates that 20,000 people get lung cancer from radon each year, and it is the second leading cause of the disease.
The highest radon levels in City Hall were found in the development services department (8.8 pico Curies per liter) and the city clerk’s office (7.1 pico Curies per liter), according to the environmental review. The EPA recommends remediation for radon levels as low as 2 pico Curies per liter.
Mitigation techniques include better ventilation, sealing cracks in floors and soil depressurization, according to the Florida Department of Health.
“We need to address this issue,” said Councilman Stephen Shelley.
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