Wondering what those folks in safety vests are doing behind the high school? Don’t worry, they’re just conducting geo-environmental tests as part of the ongoing New Westminster Secondary School replacement project.
Golder Associates, the firm hired by the school district to study the high school site in anticipation of the construction of the new building, will be working at the site for the next two weeks conducting soil tests. Using drill holes, the crew will be able to provide data on the soil composition that will help inform construction, according to a press release.
Where needed, an archeologist will be on site to monitor the testing.
People can expect to see crews of four to eight people at a time working in the school yard. The tests began May 30.
Golder Associates began an archeological impact assessment of the site last summer. It included ground-penetrating radar, soil samples and a pit test. The findings of the study are expected to be released in June.
The current secondary school was built over a public cemetery, known as Douglas Road Cemetery. The cemetery was used between 1860 and 1920 as the final resting place for the bodies of the poor, prisoners, stillborn babies and mentally ill patients from Woodlands and Essondale – which later became Riverview. The land was also used by Chinese, Sikh and First Nations communities to bury their dead.
The school district and provincial government have promised not to build on any known burial grounds.
