Asbestos find delays park opening at site of old pools in Hamilton

It’s said to not be a threat to human health but an asbestos find has further delayed the opening of a park on the site of the old municipal pools in central Hamilton.

The council had hoped that full public access would be available early this year. Work is due to cost some $1.4 million.

But the agenda for Tuesday’s city council finance and monitoring committee hui has revealed that recent testing of soil at the site had shown “traces of asbestos”.

“Staff are working with the contractor to resolve the soil issues,” the agenda said.

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Hamilton City Council community services unit director Rebecca Whitehead said in a statement initial testing had showed soil at the site was asbestos free.

But a routine test in January showed “very low traces” of the potentially deadly material “in some isolated areas within the closed site”.

“The trace amounts are not a risk to [the] public, complying with human health standards,” she said in the statement.

“We are taking extra precaution to ensure the site is 100% trace free. Therefore, the soil will need to be removed and replaced with clean soil.”

This work, combined with bad weather and contractor availability, meant delays in opening.

Further testing is due in coming weeks and new soil will follow when available “and public access will open once the grass has been established”, Whitehead said.

On how long it would be before the public got access, she expected it would be “a couple more months”.

“It depends really on the weather playing ball which hindered our original plans to open the park before Christmas, along with contractor availability and, more recently, soil issues.”