Soil Study Finds Arsenic At Park Site

Town Puts Plans On Hold For Now

ELLINGTON — The town of Ellington has withdrawn its application for a special permit to build a park named in memory of a local boy who died from a rare brain tumor in 2016.

First Selectwoman Lori Spielman announced in a post to the town’s Facebook page on Friday that the application for the “Middle Road - Jacob Poulin Project” was being withdrawn “due to testing of the soil that is not acceptable at this time.”

The project was slated to go before the planning and zoning commission Monday night in a continuance of a public hearing.

The project, known as J4cob’s Park, with an homage to the boy’s hockey number, had been met with resistance from a group of residents of a nearby neighborhood. Those who spoke out voiced concerns over increased traffic and other issues they said would make the park ineligible for the special permit approval. They also requested a soil sample study of the land, which had been farmed for tobacco and, more recently, corn.

Some residents also claimed that the town did not provide adequate public notice of the project, which town officials denied.

Sarah Poulin, Jacob’s mother and the vice president of the Jacob Roger Poulin Foundation, which has been raising money for the project, said Monday that she didn’t have all the

information at her disposal, but added that she was surprised that the town had withdrawn its application.

“However, I don’t believe this is necessarily the final status of this potential location,” Poulin said in an email.

Timothy Webb, director of public works for the town, said that initial testing of the soil at depths of 1 foot had shown some evidence of pesticides “just above permittable levels,” including small spikes in arsenic, which can occur naturally in the soil.

However, Webb added that lead, which would normally be expected to accompany manmade levels of arsenic, was not found in the soil.

Webb said that soil sample collection and testing will continue. He expected to have a report on the findings in three weeks and said that town officials would meet to discuss them and decide on a course of action.

“[The Middle Road location] could come back for planning and zoning or for something else like a school,” he said.

The town bought the property in 2002 for future recreational use and possibly a new high school. Webb said that no testing of the soil was done at that time, which would have given officials a baseline of what was there.

The town has put a traffic study on hold until the results of the soil study are completed, Webb said, in the event that it isn’t needed.

Plans for a park in Jacob’s name have been in the works since shortly after he died on Oct. 1, 2016. The project was slated to include outdoor deck hockey and an American Ninja Warrior-inspired playground, to mirror two of his favorite activities.

Two other town-owned parcels were considered before the Middle Road site. Last year, on the first anniversary of Jacob’s death, a celebratory ceremony was held on the site.

The first phase of the park is expected to cost about $325,000. Two more phases are planned, for a total cost of about $700,000, which would be raised by the foundation.

Poulin said Monday that the foundation would continue to raise money for, and awareness about, the park.

She also acknowledged that issues with the soil may not be able to be mitigated at the Middle Road site, so other town-owned sites or possibly the donation of private land would have to be considered.

“The only thing I know for sure at this point is that J4cob’s Park is going to happen somewhere,” Poulin said.