Despite community efforts, GSO city council chooses not to fully remediate contaminated Bingham Park

Featured image: Outside Bingham Park in Greensboro, NC, a sign informs visitors of the park’s closure due to soil contamination. A line on the sign states: “The city of Greensboro is working with partners and the community to plan for the remediation (soil removal) within the park to build a better Bingham Park for the future.” On Tuesday, city leaders voted against removing the soil. (Photo by Marielle Argueza)

Against urging from the community, the Greensboro City Council opted on Tuesday not to fully remediate Bingham Park, the 12-acre site of a former landfill in East Greensboro, a decision that will impact Greensboro’s residents for decades to come. 

According to local newspapers from the 1920s, the landfill was installed in a predominantly Black farming community in 1923, despite pushback at the time. The landfill operated until the 1950s and then in the 1970s, the city turned the area into a park.

Until April of this year, the park was open — with precautions. Signs posted around the property warned visitors to not eat the dirt or drink from the stream that runs across the grounds. But once new guidance around acceptable lead levels in soil from the Environmental Protection Agency dropped in January, the city rushed to close down the park three months later and put up the fence. “They didn’t even tell us they were putting up the gate; that was a shocker,” said longtime Bingham Park area resident Antwuan Tysor to TCB this past summer.

Bingham Park (Photo by Marielle Argueza)

What happened?

According to Parks and Recreation Director Phil Fleischmann, the city had received two petitions with more than 120 signatures in total urging them to fully remediate the site. That would have meant removing the dirt and shuttling it safely away from the site at either Great Oak Landfill in Asheboro or Uwharrie Landfill in Troy. A third landfill option would have been to reopen part of White Street Landfill, a few miles from the park, but staff removed this option after pushback from the community. 

On Tuesday, councilmembers voted on two options: to contain the waste beneath Bingham Park with a cap and cover method or to fully remediate the site. The council also voted on whether or not to remediate the former Hampton School property, which was damaged and closed after the 2018 tornado.

The first option of covering and capping the park cost about $12.4 million, while the second option of full remediation would have cost between $41.3-43.4 million. The city has identified $18 million for the efforts in state and federal funding, some of which must be used by 2026.

In the end, council voted 6-2 to cap and cover the park with Mayor Pro Tempore Yvonne Johnson and at-large councilmember Hugh Holston casting the two votes against the cap and cover method.Now that council has chosen to cap and cover Bingham Park,a geotextile layer will be placed over the landfill waste and 12 inches of soil will be placed on top. With this option, Bingham Park will become a “passive green space,” Parks and Rec Deputy Director Kobe Riley explained during Tuesday’s meeting. 

The city will build a trail there, but the method won’t allow them to do anything that can permeate the soil, such as plant trees or install light poles. 

A neighborhood park will be developed on the former Hampton School property with potential amenities that include a picnic shelter, fitness equipment and a playground.

‘We’ve been duped; we’ve been backstabbed’

The city’s decision goes against years of research and community advocacy in favor of full remediation. 

In October 2020, academics Stephen Sills, Sandra Echeverria and Kathy Colville were awarded a three-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to “develop a framework” for addressing environmental justice concerns in communities of color, which included building a case for remediating the park and streams. The project led to the creation of the Bingham Park Environmental Justice team that aimed to center community voices. The team recommended full remediation in August 2023, and the city’s own Parks and Recreation Commission voted for full remediation in February 2023.

Full remediation would have been a “permanent solution,” Riley said.

Sills and Colville both spoke in favor of full remediation during the public hearing on Tuesday. 

“Leaving hazardous materials buried without a permanent and safe solution only perpetuates harm,” Sills said. “This is a community already struggling with the challenges of environmental racism. Why should they bear the burden of a century of injustice, refuse from the rest of the city, any longer?” 

However, city leaders bemoaned the additional funding needed to support full remediation, but supporters pointed out the fact that millions of dollars have been spent on other city parks. For example, the city and county will be spending more than $75 million in bond funding and contributions on the future Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex.

Councilmembers also quoted the potential changes in local and national leadership as the reason for their decision.

“We have no idea what the state or federal government will look like five months from now and what options will be available,” said District 5 representative Tammi Thurm.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan agreed.

“If we wait to try to raise an additional $31 million, we can lose the funding that we already have,” Vaughan said, citing the turnover on council that could impact the project since she and three others on council have decided not to run again.

In the audience, Bingham Park area resident Cheryl Johnson dabbed her eyes as it became evident which way the council was leaning.

“We’ve been duped, we’ve been backstabbed,” said a tearful Johnson after the vote. “I think that the city is lazy, and they don’t want to do the work to make a difference. They don’t care about us.” 

Johnson thanked councilmembers Holston and Johnson “for standing up for us in the face of the other council members.”

“We live there,” Johnson added. 

After the vote, her daughter and BPEJ team member Courtney Ullah said that the city council’s decision shows the importance of voting in elections.

“Maybe this will motivate people to be more engaged to vote because that’s important at the local level,” Ullah said. “There should have been more people here.” 

Ullah lives in the Willow Oaks neighborhood near the park. As the mother of three children, she said that full remediation would have helped to keep future generations safe and healthy.

“It’s very hard when you have children and they can’t really play like normal,” she said. “You have to drive everywhere to enjoy spaces outdoors. There are many wonderful parks in Greensboro, but there could be one more wonderful park.”

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