School Board: Imperial Pkwy contract terminated after soil test issues

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – A new school may not be built off of Imperial Parkway after the school board failed to have an extended soil inspection officially approved, the school board said Monday.

Many believed a heated debate over two Bonita Springs locations had ended with last month’s decision to purchase the land and build the new school at the Imperial Parkway site for $71.9 million. Before the April 19 decision, nearby Bonita Springs residents speculated about the presence of asbestos at the proposed location. School board officials responded to those allegations by agreeing to test the soil in order to ensure it was safe for future students.

Residents simply did not want a school in their neighborhood, one resident behind the asbestos claims said. But then neighbors became concerned about children’s safety, Debbie Fosselman said.

“It wasn’t about the school — originally it was, be honest. It became about the children and how they weren’t safe and how we would not want our own children and grandchildren at a school like that,” she said.

Possible traces of diesel were discovered Monday when an engineer tested the soil at Imperial Parkway, according to the school board. But the contract with the Imperial Parkway site’s owner ended at 5 p.m. on Monday before official results could be analyzed, the school board said.

School board member Steven Teuber said it was the expired contract, not soil contamination, that will keep the Bonita Springs school from being built at the intended site.

“Not only are there potential safety issues but they are regulatory issues — those are things that have to be cleaned up,” Teuber said.

A week-long extension to test the soil was requested May 13, but the owner of the Imperial Parkway site only provided verbal consent; the school board failed to receive “an executed document,” according to the school board.

Now the school board is looking to take alternate action for the pending Bonita Springs school. Residents threatened to sue the school board after its decision to build the new school off of Imperial Parkway. The other proposed site, which also received major push-back from residents, is located off Bonita Beach Road.

That site will reenter the pool of options under the district’s consideration. The school board could also expand Estero High School and build the new high school in the Gateway area; but the goal is to build a school in Bonita Springs, Teuber said.

“It is a feasible solution. It is not the ideal solution, you know. We promised Bonita they would get a school and we promised it timely and we would like to deliver on that promise,” he said.

District officials expected the school to open by the 2018-19 school year. But new contract complications will set back the district’s schedule, Teuber said. The Lee County School District Superintendent Gregory Adkins will hold an action meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue.