Updates: gas station cleanup, trauma help

Updated information on two important Yorba Linda projects – cleanup of contamination from a long-closed Imperial Highway gasoline station just west of the public library and support services for victims of traumatic events and their families – has been provided by city officials.

First, remediation of groundwater contamination from the former, now-fenced Ultramar service station site at Lemon Drive and Imperial Highway could end in mid-2016, with “final case closure” in 2017, according to a recent report from Rick Yee, assistant city engineer.

Costs for the cleanup are expected to total $1.725 million, paid by the Orange County Transportation Agency through Smart Street funding. After cleanup, “closure phase” costs will be paid from $1.5 million set aside in the State Underground Storage Tank Mitigation Fund.

Yorba Linda is responsible for the cleanup under requirements administered by the Orange County Health Care Agency because the city purchased the property in 2004 for an Imperial Highway widening project.

According to Yee, the city “will continue to work with the county on the possibility of using the site as a building site, rather than limit it to parking of vehicles only.” A higher remediation standard must be met to allow buildings.

Remediation began in 2011 with the removal of floating gasoline from groundwater, Yee noted, at a cost of $422,000. The current phase involves removing the remaining dissolved gasoline mixed with groundwater and will cost an estimated $1.3 million when completed next year.

An additional $187,349 has been spent to monitor groundwater in the vicinity of the contaminated site, also performed by Stantec Consulting Services, the firm hired for the entire task, to ensure contaminant levels are not migrating from the project site, Yee explained.

Final closure needs to be approved by the health care agency and the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Second, the City Council has renewed for a 15^th year a contract with the Trauma Intervention Program designed “to provide emotional and practical support services to victims of traumatic events and their families,” according to a report from Allison Estes, a city management analyst.

The program involves 118 local volunteers who served 164 residents with 205 crisis services and contributed 17,520 “ready alert” hours last year. Annual cost to the city since 2001 has been $8,148, about 12 cents per resident. Orange County and 19 of 34 county cities participate in the program.

“Volunteers are called by police officers, firefighters, paramedics and hospital personnel to assist family members and friends following a traumatic event, including natural or unexpected deaths, victims of fire and violent crimes, disoriented or lonely elderly persons, people involved in motor vehicle accidents, people who are distraught and seeking immediate support and survivors of suicide,” Estes reported.