At First de Chabert Demolition Townhall, Details About Upcoming Project

ST. CROIX — Residents neighboring the soon-to-be-demolished Ralph deChabert Housing Community gathered at the Juanita Gardine Elementary School auditorium in Christiansted on Saturday to learn about the demolition process and the steps that RG Engineering Inc. will be taking to protect the nearby communities from harm, as well as making available pertinent information such as traffic changes, start and end time of daily construction work and more.

The meeting was organized by the Virgin Islands Housing Authority (VIHA), which saw Jose M. Robles, sales manager for RG Engineering giving details about the project that still remains without a start date; and Darryl Smalls and Lydia Hughes, director of modernization and chief operating officer, respectively, fielding questions from about two dozen people gathered in the auditorium from 10:00 a.m. until noon yesterday.

Robles, standing on stage flanked by the VIHA officials, stood near a projector screen and explained bullet points that were being shown.

From left: Darryl Smalls, Lydia Hughes and Jose M. Robles

The project will see RG Engineering removing all asbestos and lead from the buildings, which includes 45 residential structures, 264 apartments, one community building, a water tower and “other accessory structures associated with the site.”

Although a solid date hasn’t been pinned, the company is expecting the job to last 270 days, with a projected completion timeline of December 31, 2015. The site will also see various security measures being implemented, including cameras and patrol, among other measures.

The job, according to Robles, will be completed in three phases. The first phase is for the removal of asbestos and lead, including removal of insulation materials, floor vinyl tiles with black mastic (glue), window caulking, various door frames and more. During this process, there will be a complete sealing-off of the area, air-monitoring devices will be installed to assure that asbestos is contained, along with other protective implementations.

Second phase is demolition of the structures, and the third phase includes grading and hydroseeding the area. During demolition, water turbines will be installed throughout the site for dust control, according to Robles, who was responding to a question from audience.

Once all hazardous  materials are collected, they will be quarantined and securely shipped to the U.S. to be disposed in an EPA-approved site.

According to Smalls, Saturday’s meeting was the first of many to be held on the demolition project.