Town staff said on March 5 that construction at Cooper Park will resume after testing showed buried floor material discovered on‑site does not contain asbestos. The material was found in a stockpile area used during construction of a bioretention basin near Saint Paul Avenue; GZA performed 18 samples and reported that the material is not asbestos‑containing and that tested concentrations were below Massachusetts reportable thresholds for the contaminants analyzed.

Because the soil is mixed with fragments of the former flooring, the project team told the commission that the excavated material must be characterized for landfill disposal rather than reused on site. To limit further disturbance and avoid repeated rounds of testing, the design firm Horsley Witten is redesigning the bioretention basin to use as much of the already‑excavated area as possible and to minimize additional excavation.

Town staff said the contractor expects to redeploy on site the week following the meeting and that the remaining work (top coat paving, concrete pads for benches) requires unfrozen ground. The project team also announced a public dedication and ribbon cutting planned for Friday, May 9 at 4:30 p.m., which they said is the target if construction stays on the revised schedule.

Context and next steps: the design team will supply the commission with a revised plan that reduces further excavation and preserves treatment objectives; the contaminated‑material decision affects how excavated material is handled and will increase disposal requirements because the mixed soil and flooring fragments must be sent to a landfill following characterization testing. Staff said they expect to present a minor amendment request to the commission if needed once plans are finalized.

Quoted by staff: the project lead said the find was “a little bit of a roller coaster of, like, some bad news, some good news,” and summarized that tests were “below reportable concentrations” and that the design team will “dig as little as possible, beyond what's already been dug up” to avoid repeated testing and delay.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the redesign at the March 5 meeting; staff said they will return with revised plans for review and, if needed, a minor amendment request.