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 15th 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.