Environmental testing begins at historic Claflin site

Environmental engineers are combing through historic Claflin School to determine the amount of hazardous cleanup that will be needed to revive the building.

Friends of Claflin, the group created to rescue the old Claflin School on the site of the first public school for blacks, hired Geotechnical and Environmental Consultants Inc. to perform the evaluation. The consultants began the task Tuesday, searching for lead paint, asbestos, mold and mildew that will have to be removed before restoration can begin.

On Tuesday, Laura Johnson, community reinvestment division manager for the city, and the Rev. Richard Jessie, director of FOC, briefed councilors on the state of the project.

“We just left there,” Jessie said. “We have started the process of restoration with Phase One testing. We should get the results in a couple of weeks and be able to start Phase Two of the testing.”

Jessie said the group has been cleared to begin basic cleanup of the building and that they will be organizing that project.

“We plan to clean up the school and we’ll be able to know what we need to do in the demolition work,” Jessie said.

The school is on land that was given to the Freedman’s Bureau in the wake of the Civil War and the original school was built. Over the years, it was given first to the city school system, which merged with the county system. It burned down and in 1958 and the current main building was built. In 2013, the school district declared the property surplus and gave it back to the city, which had taken title from the Freedmen’s Bureau decades before.

But the land has a stipulation that says it can be used only for educational purposes. With that in mind, the city was planning to hand the land back over to the federal government, but local historians and preservationists clamored for it to be saved.

Columbus Council gave the city administration a year to come up with a plan to renovate the building and find someone who wanted to use it. That effort failed, but then the Friends of Claflin was formed and it has been working to secure and stabilize the building and insure it so the city could lease it to them.

The environmental analysis is the first step in the renovation process, which is supposed to take place this year and next. In 2017 and 2018, the group plans to prepare the facility for tenants and then hold a grand opening in 2018, according to a timeline the group presented to Columbus Council.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Environmental testing begins at historic Claflin site."