Cleanup method attacked

Jenny Marder

A group of Pacific City watchdogs challenged the testing and cleanup

methods used at the site during a Planning Commission study session

on Tuesday, despite city planners’ assurances that the property will

be thoroughly tested and cleaned.

They also alleged that contaminated soil could pose a health

hazard.

The Pacific City Action Coalition has become vocal lately during

grading on the 31-acre property bordered by Pacific Coast Highway,

Atlanta Avenue and Huntington and 1st streets.

Plans for Pacific City call for a luxury resort, 516 residential

townhouses, upscale shopping, restaurants and office space.

In a presentation at the Planning Commission study session, Mike

Churchin, a member of the coalition, listed a number of of concerns.

The group’s primary concern is that the site, formerly a Chevron

oil field, contains contaminated soil that could pose a health hazard

to children playing in neighboring yards and others who breathe

airborne dust particles.

The Chevron Corp. is responsible for thorough testing and cleanup

of the property, which will be overseen by the Huntington Beach Fire

Department.

The coalition demanded that all work on the site be halted until

there is full access to test results and past cleanup activity. The

group also asked that testing be done by a firm “mutually decided

upon by the coalition and Makar Properties.”

“The coalition has not been able to get access to all prior

testing data, including results of the potential groundwater

contamination testing conducted in 2002 near Chevron’s former

gasoline distillation operation,” Churchin said.

Huntington Beach Fire Marshal Charles Burney said that the

coalition has had full access to all of the data that the Fire

Department has on record. This kind of cleanup is a common practice

for the city, he said.

“The hazards that are out there don’t appear to be any more

significant than any other area of the city where we’ve had similar

types of uses and cleanup,” Burney said. “Other large oil fields have

been cleaned up to levels that are satisfactory to develop

residential units.”

Other residents at the study session said that the coalition’s

allegations weren’t grounded in hard evidence and raised unnecessary

fears.

“I simply think that this was a mixing of facts just to kill

development,” Huntington Beach resident John DeWitt said.

All work on the site has been halted, and cleanup won’t begin

until testing is complete and a full remediation plan has been

drafted by Chevron and approved by the city.

“There is absolutely the concern on the part of the city to get

this site cleaned up and to do it without the kinds of impacts

they’ve had out there with dust,” Burney said. “The site will end up

in a condition where it can be built on and the residential use will

be appropriate for it.”