Rachel Ravina/Bayside Gazette
Members of the Berlin Parks Commission discuss the status of the closure of Heron Park during a meeting last Tuesday.

By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(Oct. 10, 2019) Heron Park remains closed with no definite timeline to reopen, Administrative Services Director Mary Bohlen told members of the Berlin Parks Commission last Tuesday.

“Temporarily closed” signs, large traffic cones and caution tape continue to block the entrance of the site on Old Ocean City Boulevard.

The Berlin Mayor and Town Council on Sept. 23 moved to close the park indefinitely for safety and financial reasons.

“Of course, if you’ve all read the paper or seen Facebook, they did vote … to go ahead and close the park for the time being,” Bohlen said.

Berlin Mayor Gee Williams previously said that the town became aware of a spill of an unknown amount of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda or lye) on June 26 when the liquid “found its way into the soil” and “gathered into a small pool.”

He added that the chemical did not make its way into the nearby ponds.

Williams confirmed that the incident happened sometime during the demolition process.

The park was closed for nearly two months, while Chesapeake Environmental Services handled the clean-up process.

The town has authorized spending roughly $265,000 to correct the situation, and is expected to spend $283,000 on the clean-up overall, Williams said last month.

While the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment have yet to release the results of the investigation, Bohlen assured members of the Berlin Parks Commission that the site had been cleaned up.

“Everything is off the site,” Bohlen said. “The EPA and MDE have come back out and done testing, [and] as far as I know, and everything is fine.”

Williams also told council members, staff and members of the public during the meeting on Sept. 23 that Goody Hill Groundwork could finish the demolition if the town authorized up to $55,000 to pay for a series of projects. The proposal was rejected.

Commission member Bruce Hyder asked Bohlen about the piles of debris still on the property, and if the contractor, Coastal Site Works, would continue to collect the debris?

“They were, but once everything happened, we told them to get off the property and stay off,” Bohlen replied. “Without knowing exactly what happened, we didn’t want any more work going on.”

In addition to the debris piles, Bohlen said a cluster of rebar, or steel-reinforcing rods, is still on the property, and that town personnel would not be able to remove it themselves.

“If you go look at it, it’s a tangled mess,” Bohlen said. “We’re working on getting that cleaned up, but like everything else, it’s never as easy as people think it’s going to be.”

Commission member Patricia Dufendach was absent from last Tuesday’s meeting.