Recent testing found asbestos and waste refuse in an old dump site at Tolaga Bay near Gisborne that was used for recreation and rugby until 2018.
The district council now faces a major clean-up cost, while one councillor has questioned why the tests were done in the first place.
The land, informally known as Uawa league reserve, was historically a landfill that was closed in 1986.
A recent detailed site investigation (DSI) revealed the contamination, which has also had an impact on a local cycleway.
The council closed the site following severe storms in 2018 and used it for storing and processing woody debris.
However, an expired consent condition required the council to restore the site to its "original" conditions.
"Disturbed soil" and the risks associated with the site's former use as a landfill resulted in the council testing it.
At a council environment and communities meeting on Tuesday, councillor Teddy Thompson said he had "real concerns" about the situation.
"In building [work], you do everything to avoid a DSI... were we forced to do a DSI?" he said.
"Without the woody debris, the council could have planted a garden, but [now] we can't ride pushbikes or walk over it... there's just no common sense," he said.
"We're talking thousands and thousands of dollars to remediate this, where there was never any problem until this contaminated soil thing has come in recently.
"I guarantee no one playing rugby or anyone's ever had any health issues from it."
The proposed approach is to cap the site with 500mm of clean fill.
Natalie Waihi, the council's capital projects programme manager for liveable spaces, said the existing landfill site had always been there, but the risk to public health was triggered through disturbance of the soil through many years of trucking and moving materials across the site.
Testing was done before plans were made for the reserve due to the "risks associated" with the site's prior use, a council report written by Waihi said.
When working in a reserve the public will be accessing each day, it is "definitely a prudent and due diligence approach" to carry out testing, Waihi said.
"We would not take an approach of putting soil over the top and not understanding what was underneath it, or what we needed to cap."
Investigations showed a "small area where asbestos was located".
Through the wider reserve, it was noted there were fragments of materials in upper soil layers, likely from flytipping on the site and the old landfill, Waihi said.
The identification of asbestos triggered the requirement for a "certain type of remediation" and consent under the National Environmental Standard for assessing and managing contaminants in soil to protect human health.
When asked about the cost, Waihi estimated between $600,000 and $800,000 as a "high-level estimation".
However, she said the council was "working really hard" to reduce costs, including investigating bringing in a mixture of hard fill, broken hard fill and clean soil to reduce costs, as hard fill was cheaper than topsoil.
The remediation could have "an increased cap" in the asbestos area and a "lower cap over fragment materials", as it was the asbestos that posed the public health risk, Waihi said.
The report said the central government woody debris fund allocated $400,000 towards remediation, with a further $500,000 available from the council for land and stabilisation projects.
Although the site was a high priority for remediation, the process could take some years.
Ūawa Cycle and Walkway
A portion of the Uawa cycle/walkway trail was closed as it was located on the boundary of the site, along Ferneaux St and around to the crossing over Solander St.
At Tuesday's meeting, Ūawa Cycle and Walkway Charitable Trust members Bessie Macey and Pat Seymour requested that the cycleway be opened.
A portion of the cycleway that went along the league field was locked off, Seymour told councillors.
A volunteer team was happy to do the maintenance on the walk and cycleway, but needed access, she said.
"Into next year, we would like a conversation about the deferred maintenance and how it is maintained," she said.
Macey said the fence that ran alongside the road had been put there for the safety of tamariki.
Waihi said no contaminants had been found around the walkway, and the council had proposed to relocate the roadside boundary of the fence to the inside of the cycleway.
This would allow access to the cycleway right down the side of the reserve, but would keep the reserve closed as per the requirements of the DSI, she said.
"We have been through the planning process, intending to undertake works for the remediation in late February/ early March when the consent is available."
This would leave the community access to the cycleway over the summer.
Councillor Jeremy Muir said concerns had been raised about maintenance, and the fence provided safety for the cycleway from the road.
"Is there a way to ameliorate that concern?"
Waihi said they could allow access to the volunteers who were offering to maintain the cycleway before summer.
Any decision to maintain the cycleway after summer would be made with the council's journeys and lifelines team, as it was their asset.
Waihi said there could be some challenges in having two fences running parallel, and the existing fence was "very likely" sitting within a road corridor.
"I don't believe that it would be consented to be there permanently because it is very close to the road."
Waihi said she would need more advice before committing to leaving the fence along the road boundary.
– Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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