Josh Wallace, senior project manager for Jacobs Engineering, whom the City hired as its owner representative, led the presentation, updating the crowd on the demolition proceedings. The demolition project has begun with the interior of the old hospital.
Answering Questions
Wallace and Cliff Collins, associate city administrator, then answered questions from the crowd. Citizen concerns included the potential dangers of asbestos removal, air pollution infiltrating nearby neighborhoods, and debris clogging drains.
- “Those questions, even though they’re hard, are necessary,” Wallace said. “We want those because we want to partner with the community and make sure everybody is happy with the final product.”
Reginald Reese lives only 600 feet away from the demolition site and expressed concern about debris sliding down and clogging a drain on his property.
- “That demo is too much and too large,” Reese said. “On any given day, we get three feet of water. It scares the hell out of me. When they move all that mass debris, where’s it going to go? It’s going to go straight to that drain, and that drain that sits on my property is the main drain that holds all the water from Baptist.”
Julie Townsend attended the session on behalf of her parents, who she said live two blocks from the hospital. She questioned whether the demolition is causing dust to swirl around the nearby neighborhoods. Townsend spoke at length with Collins after the session and said he visited her parents two weeks earlier to discuss the issue.
- “Every time I come (to their house), my car is full of dust, so I know dust is coming down there,” Townsend said. “My father, since this past December, has had trouble breathing, mucus in his lungs, and the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with him, so I’m wondering whether it is coming from Baptist, from their demolition. They’re saying it’s coming from PACE Foundation because they tore down the parking lot already. The asphalt is gone and the trees are all gone, so that’s what they’re saying. They’re saying it’s nothing with Baptist. But I need a guarantee for that. Should my parents wear a mask when they come out of their house? I don’t know.”
Wallace said all the demolition is currently inside the hospital, but he promised to check on potential air pollution.
- “We want to hear all the concerns people have,” Wallace said. “We’ll do our due diligence on our side and follow up with them, but at this point, we feel confident that everything in the building is staying in the building.”
Demolition of the Old Baptist Hospital Is Underway
City officials spent a significant portion of the presentation on asbestos removal. Northstar Contract Group is managing the demolition and has obtained permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to conduct the asbestos removal.
The hospital contains friable asbestos — asbestos-containing material that can be reduced to powder by hand pressure — and non-friable asbestos that cannot be crumbled but presents an elevated risk of becoming friable. Over 90% of the asbestos is non-friable, significantly reducing airborne risks, and 75% is located in the main hospital.
The demolition team is containing the asbestos through negative pressure systems, sealed work zones, a solvent-based removal process to prevent fibers from becoming airborne, and High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration, which removes 99.97% of particles. Only 7.8% of the asbestos-containing material is being removed off-site and will be routed to landfills permitted to accept asbestos — Perdido Landfill and Timberlands Landfill in Brewton, Alabama.
In additional efforts to keep the community involved, the City will host an open sidewalk talk—the City’s new favorite communication tool—at 7 p.m. on March 24 and another public forum from 5–7 p.m. on April 9 at the Fricker Center. The City is posting updates about the demolition at formerbaptistdemolition.com.
The demolition project is expected to take 18 months and cost over $16 million, with the following end goals:
- Removal of all buildings, towers, and asphalt
- Site leveling and topsoil placement
- Hydroseeding for grass cover
- Clean, graded field ready for future planning
Visit formerbaptistdemolition.com.