William Penn High School
The Harrisburg School District on Monday released additional information about the upcoming William Penn demo.
With a demolition of the years-vacant building slated to start Tuesday, the district shared information about the process and impacts on the neighborhood, via a web page.
The district announced the upcoming demo last week, following a decision to raze the building earlier this year. The decision capped a years-long back-and-forth between the district, school board and community about what to do with the deteriorating building.
Following the announcement, several neighbors of the William Penn property told TheBurg that they were given no information or heads up about the impending demo and had safety and quality of life concerns.
The district on Monday added a William Penn FAQ page to its website to answer some of these questions.
According to the district, while the demo process will begin Tuesday, the first day will focus on contractors setting up a staging area for equipment. After that, they will take several weeks to prep the inside of the building for demo. Exterior demo isn’t slated to start until early September.
The total process is estimated to take six months. Contractors are scheduled to work Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Additionally, they clarified that equipment used will include tracked excavators and sledgehammers. No wrecking balls or explosives will be used.
Water spray will be used to control dust and that water will be controlled by the contractor to avoid any runoff. In addition, a silt sock fence will be employed as a barrier.
When it comes to asbestos, something that several neighbors expressed concern about, the district said that internal asbestos removal is complete and that external removal is planned to be complete mid-August. Demo will start on areas where removal has been completed. An asbestos consultant will also perform regular asbestos air testing during the course of the project.
According to the district, some bricks from the building will be saved and given out as mementos. Additionally, some pieces of ornate masonry work will be cut out and saved for future use.
For additional questions, the district said to email [email protected]. Click here to find the William Penn FAQ page.
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