CONTROVERSIAL CONSTRUCTION Neighbors Say Construction Disrupts Quiet In Their Community
Reported by: Kristin Keeling
Videographer: Brad Rice
Web Producer: Kristin Keeling
Reported: May. 4, 2012 8:58 PM EDT
Updated: May. 5, 2012 2:45 PM EDT
Eyewitness News Photo
Charleston
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
Construction is underway on a brand-new elementary school in the Edgewood area of Charleston's West Side.
The $22 million school is being built near a neighborhood known for its lush trees and privacy.
"I think it was an ill-conceived idea," said Pat McGill of Charleston.
People who live closest to the bulldozers and cranes aren't that thrilled.
"My main concern is how they're going about this," said resident, Sarah Sullivan.
Construction is taking place over the hillside on Wood Road. That's home to people like McGill and Sullivan.
"There's really not much around me other than woods and quiet and that's part of the pleasure of living here," said McGill.
Pat says that peace and quiet will be taken away once workers start to lay the foundation for the school by blasting dirt and rock from the ridge near her home. "That translates into cracked foundations, slipping over the hillside and things like that. So it's a real problem," she said.
Director of Facility Planning Charles Wilson says the blasting is safe, and people shouldn't worry. "The blasting charges are no where near what you might see on mountain top removal and coal mining which a lot of the people at the meeting were referring to. It's a much smaller scale," said Wilson.
Neighbors say they want the kids to have a good education and at a new school. But they say they're still confused as to why it's coming so close to home.
"We certainly don't want to be not in my backyard people, but not in my backyard is really affecting what we're doing here," said McGill.
School officials say the school will likely be completed in January, 2014.
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