Fayette residents need to keep their thoughts to the south edge of town—at the new school site—because they probably won’t be so happy in the future with the view at the old school site.

Most people will gladly trade the old building for the new one under construction, especially the younger set who never developed nostalgia for the school where generations passed through the doors. It will be a lot tougher to say goodbye to the new gymnasium, still not paid for, but in the end all buildings will disappear when the new school opens.

And then? And then there’s likely to remain somewhat of a stain on the landscape until—well, no one really knows. The Ohio EPA says that clean-up could take a decade or two. Does that mean the school property will be tied up for that long?

The Ohio EPA expects to approve a plan to chemically treat the soil by injecting a substance that will neutralize the contamination. A time scale isn’t known for that project, either, but we hope the result isn’t a chain link fence for a lengthy period.

What happens after that is yet another unknown. DH Holdings, the company responsible for cleaning up contamination from the former Fayette Tubular Products company, has the first rights to buy the property from the school.

What would become of the land if DH did buy it? The company wouldn’t develop new industrial land. The property will be designated as green space—that’s one of the few known factors in the entire situation is that. DH’s settlement package with the school board forbids new construction.

In that case, perhaps the best scenario is to hope the property will eventually be used for additional park land—something that doesn’t require digging, however, because that’s also forbidden in the future.

There’s so much uncertainty and so many unknowns involved that Fayette residents will have to forget about that part of town for a while and instead focus its attention elsewhere.

Eventually something good for the community could come of the demolition project, but don’t expect anything soon. If the past few years of work at the site are any indication, bureaucracy will move very slowly.