WORCESTER—Much to the delight of the neighborhood and beyond, the Frances Perkins Branch of the Worcester Public Library reopens to the public on Tuesday, June 10, city officials announced Friday.
The branch, located at 470 West Boylston St., has been closed since March 24 after “actionable levels” of radon were detected in the building’s basement. The city installed a mitigation system on May 21, and follow-up testing by Atlas Environmental confirmed radon levels are now well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level.
The reopening follows weeks of concern and anticipation from neighbors in the city’s Greendale area.
At a May 6 City Council meeting, District 1 Councilor Jenny Pacillo submitted an order requesting an update on the branch’s status and a timeline for reopening.
“It’s a big thing in the neighborhood,” Pacillo said at the time. “I’ve had some parents reach out, and we all really miss going to Frances Perkins. We all miss Rebecca [Raineri, youth services librarian]; she’s a really great librarian and it’s a really nice thing to have in our neighborhood.”
City Manager Eric Batista previously cited delays in securing the right contractor as a challenge in the mitigation process.
“We feel as though we have one that could probably handle [it] as a vendor, so we’re probably about two, if not two and a half, weeks out from kind of mitigating the issue,” Batista said at the May 6 meeting.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can enter buildings through gaps or cracks in the foundation. It is colorless, odorless, and only detectable through testing, according to the EPA.
With mitigation complete and testing results now in, the city said the branch is safe to reopen next week.
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