Toxic soil tainted by decades of formaldehyde and gasoline leaks could kill a controversial proposal to move a high school next to the Queens Hospital Center in Hillcrest, sources said.

Opening the Gateway to Health Sciences School at Goethals Ave. and 160th St. would likely endanger the lives of students and teachers exposed to the contaminated soil on a regular basis, according to community leaders.

"People could be seriously hurt, absolutely," said Robert Trabold, president of the Hillcrest Citizens for Neighborhood Preservation, which is opposed to moving the school from its current location at 150-91 87th Road.

The proposed school site formerly housed a Fire Department refueling station and an underground petroleum storage tank that leaked gasoline, sources said, adding that a former hospital morgue also leaked formaldehyde into the soil.

Education Department spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said the School Construction Authority would sufficiently remediate the site.

"We comply with environmental requirements to ensure that land is safe to be used as a school," she said. "It's important to understand that there's no vacant land in the city that hasn't in one point been used for some purpose."

During a public hearing last Thursday night, a committee of 10 Community Board 8 members listened to a presentation by the SCA and then voted unanimously against the project.

Board members cited environmental concerns as well as worries over traffic, parking and overcrowded city buses.

"We need to make it very clear there's only one alternative that's acceptable to this community board: that the school not be built here at the site," said board member Bernie Diamond.

The next step for the proposal is a vote by the full community board, which only plays an advisory role in the process. But the plan may ultimately go before the City Council, where one member, James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), has already declared his opposition.

"Until the SCA provides studies on traffic and parking that don't insult our intelligence, there's no way to even have discussions on these issues," Gennaro said.