news-record.com

GREENSBORO — It's safe to go to Barber Park.

That's the word from the city of Greensboro after tests for contaminants revealed no risk to human health. Most of the park, which has been closed since June, will reopen Wednesday. The tennis center will open today.

The city closed the park after soils tested positive for lead, mercury and other contaminants. Since then, a toxicologist's results showed levels are so low that there is "no indication that human health has been or will be adversely impacted" by activities there.

"He doesn't see any reason why we can't open up the park," Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan said.

News that the park would reopen delighted east Greensboro residents who use its indoor tennis courts, basketball courts and walking trails. Doris and Eugene Ricks, who live a few blocks from the park, haven't been able to use the trails since the park closed.

"I'll go back to walking," Doris Ricks said. "Yes I will."

Barber Park sits on property that was a dumping ground as early as 1924. A sewage treatment plant operated there from the late 1920s until 1984 — a period when environmental regulation was lax.

In 1988, the city announced it had detected heavy metals and hazardous chemicals in the soil and water at the site. But the city said the levels were too low to be considered hazardous, and the park opened to the public.

Morgan said that even though the more recent tests didn't find anything dangerous, the city was correct in being cautious with the materials they found. The city is spending about $150,000 on testing and soil removal, and Morgan said it could spend more.

"What if we hadn't reacted that way and found something that was bad later on?" he asked.

Some areas will remain fenced off for more testing, though officials emphasized that those areas posed no health risk.

"This time, we want to bring closure on the site so somebody 10, 15 years down the road doesn't have to go through this again," Morgan said.

On Wednesday, the Ricks remembered holding family reunions there and looked forward to going back.

"Every year, we went to Barber Park," Eugene Ricks said.

"There was always something. There was a band. A church concert. A family reunion."

When a neighbor walked out her front door, the Ricks told her the park would be opening.

She said she'd already heard of the reopening on the news.

"About time!" she said.

Contact Nate DeGraff at 373-7024 or ndegraff@news-record.com