The discovery of asbestos in the Hollowbrook Senior Center has necessitated the closing of the building for about half this year to clean up and renovate the facility.
The center will close effective May 31 and work is expected to begin the following day. Officials are estimating the cost of cleanup at about $300,000. The work is currently out to bid by the township.
The situation also impacted the Hollowbrook Branch of the Mercer County Library, which closed on March 24 and will remain closed until at least September.
Mayor Bert Steinmann said the township discovered the possible presence of asbestos in the building on March 8, when a worker was repairing the boiler and found exposed asbestos on a pipe. At that point the township brought in an expert to evaluate the facility for the substance.
Steinmann said that the presence of asbestos was confirmed within various portions of the facility, which is consistent with construction standards at the time the facility was built in the 1970s.
“Given that the township is now aware of the presence of asbestos within the facility, and this presence leads to the possibility that there may be future issues within the facility, the township has determined to immediately remove all existing asbestos and renovate the facility to ensure the ongoing safety and health of its residents,” said Steinmann.
Immediate action included sealing off a storage room after it tested slightly higher for air particulates. The library branch was closed because the paint had started to bubble from a prior roof leak, Steinmann said.
The mayor said the building will be safe to use until it’s closed for cleanup. “Air quality sampling indicates that there is no current health hazard to the users of the facility,” he said.
“Although unexpected and unfortunate, when the project is completed, it will result in a newly-renovated Hollowbrook Center,” Steinmann said.
It was also determined that it will be safe to continue to utilize the facility until it closed for work at the end of the month.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos is a mineral fiber that occurs in rock and soil. Because of its fiber strength and heat resistance, asbestos was used in the past in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and as a fire retardant.
Asbestos has also been used in a wide range of manufactured goods, mostly in building materials (roofing shingles, ceiling and floor tiles, paper products, and asbestos cement products), friction products (automobile clutch, brake, and transmission parts), heat-resistant fabrics, packaging, gaskets, and coatings.
People can be exposed to the substance when fibers are released into the air by the disturbance of asbestos-containing material during product use, demolition work, building or home maintenance, repair, and remodeling.
“In general, exposure may occur only when the asbestos-containing material is disturbed or damaged in some way to release particles and fibers into the air,” said the EPA.
There are several major health effects associated with asbestos exposure, including: lung cancer; mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that is found in the thin lining of the lung, chest and the abdomen and heart; and asbestosis, a serious progressive, long-term, non-cancer disease of the lungs.
Due to the risks associated with the removal of asbestos and possibility of exposure, the township decided to close the facility for the entire period of the cleanup, which is estimated to last about six months.
“The township is performing this project on an emergency expedited basis in hopes of completing it in a shorter time frame,” said Steinmann, adding that users of the facility should expect that the project will take the full six months, if not longer, depending upon how the project proceeds.
While the facility remains closed, Steinmann is encouraging residents to use the facilities at the township’s other senior center — the Ewing Senior and Community Center, which is located at 999 Lower Ferry Road.
“The ESCC has a full range of services available to residents including a gym, pool facilities and senior programs,” Steinmann said.
He said the township is also working to try to make accommodations for programs that regularly take place in Hollowbrook to temporarily locate them in other township or county-owned facilities.
“It may not be possible to accommodate them all for the entire period; however, the township is working diligently with the county to mitigate the effects on the community,” said Steinmann.
It has rooms the public can rent and is also home to Concerned Citizens of Ewing, the CYO of Mercer County’s day care program, the Head Start program, the Mercer County Library’s Hollowbrook branch, a senior nutrition program and a pool.
