The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved of clean-up efforts at the future site of the Harmony School in Forrestal Village.
DEP spokesman Lawrence Hajna said a no further action letter was issued for the cleanup on the parcel across Merwick Road, a site smaller than its existing 12,311-square-foot building, where the Harmony School will construct a new 10,000-square foot facility. The Harmony School is a private pre-K, pre-school, and daycare center serving children ages 6 months to 6 years old.
This past fall, Plainsboro officials reported that crews had scraped the old soil from the ground, put into an area that was approved by the DEP, and imported clean soil to cap the site.
“The area was once a nursery, and they used pesticides,” said Hajna. “There was historic pesticide contamination, and since it’s a school or daycare site, it fell under our daycare regulations. They removed the soil and the top layer and consolidated it.”
The no further action letter from the DEP allows The Harmony School to relocate into the new building on Merwick Road. The Eden Institute, having outgrown its current space in West Windsor, will be moving into the space vacated by Harmony.
Once Harmony relocates, however, a second phase of remediation at its current location will need to take place so that the Eden Institute can move into its new home. The planning board granted approval in January, 2009, for a two-story expansion and a new building on the site.
The move to the 2.7-acre Plainsboro site comes as a result of the growth Eden has experienced since it was established in 1975. The Institute provides a lifespan of services designed to enable children and adults with autism to lead fulfilling and productive lives.
The plan incorporates the Harmony building with a 25,000 square-foot expansion onto the existing 12,000 square foot building. Before the expansion is constructed, the soil will be remediated for dieldrin, an insecticide used during the 1950s to early 1970s, in accordance with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s standards.
