A new engineering report shows that two piles of fill dumped at the historic site of John Jay's boyhood home by Westchester County contain arsenic, lead, pesticides and other contaminants. The fill originated from Playland Amusement Park in Rye.The Jay Heritage Center recieved contaminated fill last month

The Jay Heritage Center, which operates the part of the property containing John Jay's former house, commissioned the study by FPM Engineering Group. The study found that fill samples contained metals and pesticides, along with arsenic, chromium, lead and acetone. One of the piles now sits on land slated for an organic community garden. The Jay site also sits next to the Marshlands Conservancy, a wildlife preserve on Long Island Sound.

State Health Department officials said areas such as the Lower Hudson Valley often have construction fill buried along waterways and that it wasn't uncommon to see arsenic, chromium and lead levels higher than in other parts of the state.

Suzanne Clary, president of the Jay Heritage Center has been upset with the County Parks Department since last month, when the fill was brought in and left at the site. She said it was littered with debris, including wires, construction debris and motor oil bottles. Clary also said that county trucks left deep truck tire ruts in an area believed to contain ancient artifacts and said one mound of dirt sits on what is thought to have been the site of Jay slave gardens and buildings.

For more information on the controversy over the fill, check out this story in the Journal News.