By Dan Israeli
A presentation was held at this Tuesday's board meeting by Tom Ritzenthaler of Collins and Scoville Architects, the firm hired by the district to handle the temporary project, and the permanent project scheduled for the summer at Lindell. The project's team also includes Ryan-Biggs Associates, a structural engineering company, and J.D. Broderick, the project's environmental consultant that will handle the asbestos abatement.
The goal of the temporary repairs is to best stabilize the building's facade in the six-month period before a major restoration takes place at Lindell. The school's exterior is decaying, evidenced by a metal lintel, or structural piece, that fell from a third-floor window last January. That incident led the district to surround the school with protective scaffolding, and raised concern in many parents as to the overall state of the building's safety.
According to Ritzenthaler, the support beams of the building's windows are deteriorating and expanding, causing them to push up against the parapets that guard the exterior. Now the parapets are leaning dangerously outwards, and will need to be removed or stabilized, depending on the location of the facade.
There is also a concern of unstable brick being released from the building, according to Ritzenthaler, which will additionally need to be removed. The project will also brace the deteriorated window frame where the lintel fell with a wooden support beam. In addition, the effected areas will receive new waterproofing to protect the students inside.
The project is at an urgent juncture, according to Ritzenthaler, who added that the work being done in December is not of grand scale proportions, figuratively or financially. "Time is of the essence, and the longer we wait, the worse the facade gets," he said. "However, we don't want to make a significant investment for this temporary work, and will keep it as cost effective as possible."
The asbestos abatement, regulated by the State Department of Labor for such removal projects, does not require any state mandated air monitoring since the asbestos is located on the exterior, and because it is classified as non-friable asbestos, which basically means it does not emit a breathable, and hazardous dust.
The district, however, has decided to err on the side of caution, and has asked its environmental consultant to monitor the air quality anyway. Non-friable asbestos does have the potential to become hazardous when it is burned, and can pose the same dangers as friable asbestos during repairs and other construction.
According to Paul Fazio, a consultant with J.D. Broderick, there will need to be a ten day waiting period before the state can authorize any asbestos removal from a public building. The material will be removed with hammers and chisels, and then bagged and sent to a certified landfill. Any area where asbestos is removed will be plasterized and covered.
The project recently went out to bid for a contractor, and a decision should be made by the end of this week. According to Franklin Alvarado, president of the Long Beach school board, the project is a small step of the district's larger goal to renovate it's entire facilities. "There is a lot of work we still need to do," he said. "We are starting down the path of our master plan."
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