Most polluted city property: gas station cleanup will take more time and will cost more money

Final case closure for Yorba Linda's most contaminated city-owned property – the land beneath a gas station once located between the library and Imperial Highway just south of Lemon Drive – will be delayed another three years and could cost an extra $714,000.

That's the gist of a lengthy report prepared by Assistant City Engineer Rick Yee, who noted cleanup of leakage from underground tanks that contaminated groundwater near the site has already cost $1.775 million to remove more than 16,000 pounds of contaminate.

The delay for a process that was expected to be completed by the middle of this year is due to residual hydrocarbon contaminates found at two of the 17 wells that have been monitoring the cleanup on and near the fenced-off property since 2011.

The extra expenditure will pay for a “revised remedial approach,” according to Yee, which will involve “the use of chemical oxidation to expedite the removal process.”

He stated, “Such treatment process changes are not uncommon as certain technologies are more effective (in terms of cost benefit) once the higher concentrations of contaminate have been removed.”

The initial $1.775 million cost was covered by funds from the Orange County Transportation Agency pledged in 2012. The extra expense will be paid by $500,000 from the city's capital improvement budget and an additional $214,225 appropriation.

The new amounts could eventually be recovered from the state's Underground Storage Tank fund, since the site is eligible for up to $1.5 million in reimbursements, Yee noted, adding that “no official agreement between the city and state is in place....”

Yee stated that if state funds are not granted – “a low probability” – then other sources will need to be found, perhaps from the transportation agency again. Funds from city reserves “may be required” to “continue and finish the mandated cleanup effort.”

A new timeline has remediation concluding in 2018 “with approximately one additional year needed to pursue closure efforts of cycling the system on and off to verify that contaminate levels are not rebounding,” Yee explained.

After acceptance of final closure by both the Orange County Health Care Agency and the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, the site can be redeveloped for retail or other commercial use, with a soil vapor barrier under a concrete pad probably required.

However, Yee reported, proceeds from a sale of the land or, if the city keeps the site, the appraised value would need to be reimbursed to the transportation agency, since the property was originally purchased with Measure M1 funds.

The city bought the land in 2004 as part of the then-controversial Imperial Highway widening and improvement project. A Superior Court judgment required the city to clean underground contamination that included a widening plume running under Imperial Highway toward a restaurant in the Yorba Linda Station Center. 

Program promoted by Richard Nixon--Community Development Block Grants--once earned annual 5-0 City Council approvals but now draws opposition

One of the more interesting votes taken each year by Yorba Linda City Council members involves the acceptance of federal funds for projects under the Community Development Block Grant program.

The dollars the city receives from the federal government aren't much – $195,791 for the current 2016-17 fiscal year, with a $3.6 million total since 2003 – but the vote to take this money each year can tax the politics of council members, all self-identified conservatives.

And add the fact the program was developed in the administration of Yorba Linda's native- son President Richard Nixon, and the quandary for believers in limited federal government activities is heightened.

Nixon left office before Congress approved the program in 1974 in Gerald Ford's presidency, but it was Nixon's idea to consolidate several existing programs under one umbrella and give cities greater latitude in how funds would be spent.

The block grant program is one of the longest, continuously run programs in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, with $2.8 billion awarded to more than 1,100 local governmental entities this year.

In past years, this city's council members voted 5-0 to accept the money, often under the expressed theory “if we don't take it, it will go to some other city.” But that changed upon the election of Craig Young to the council four years ago.

Since then, Young has cast the lone “no” vote on accepting the grant money, citing opposition to the grants “in principle” and criticizing the program's federal and local administrative outlays.

This year's vote at a recent council session was 3-1, with Gene Hernandez, Peggy Huang and Tom Lindsey in favor and Young opposed. Mark Schwing, a usual grant supporter, was absent.

Here's how this year's cash will be spent, according to a report from Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager:

--$77,264 for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, including $47,264 to replace the “obsolete elevator...in a low-income senior residential community” and $30,000 for “ramps for public accessibility at Hurless Barton Park and the Community Center.”

--$50,000 for the Neighborhood Improvement Program for funding “rehabilitation grants to qualified homeowners for general property improvements and repairs to meet local codes, standards and ordinances.”

--$29,369 for “operational costs associated with the daily senior lunch program” held at the Community Center (limited to 15 percent of the total grant award).

--$39,158 for program administration for “overall development, management, coordination and monitoring” of the grants (20 percent of the total, 10 percent each to the city and county).

If the council chose not to participate in the grant application, the funds the city has been allocated would go to the county “to be distributed through a competitive process to other Orange County cities seeking additional funding,” Stoker stated.

Prediction fulfilled: 2016 shapes up as politically contentious year for City Council, water board

As predicted in my Jan. 1 column, this year is shaping up as one of Yorba Linda's most politically contentious 12-month periods on record, with voters poised to make key decisions regarding the community's future in both the June primary and November general elections.

The November results could remold the makeup and direction of the City Council and the Yorba Linda Water District, while the June outcome could cement the council's influence in county Republican Party politics.

Council incumbents Gene Hernandez and Craig Young already are raising money for re-election races, and both have endorsed Tara Campbell for a third seat scheduled for the Nov. 8 election ballot.

The first-time candidate also is supported by council members Peggy Huang and Tom Lindsey for the seat now held by 20-year Councilman Mark Schwing, who is not expected to seek a sixth term when filing begins mid-July.

Campbell, a 2015 USC graduate, chairs the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. She was named to the panel last year, after council voted 4-1 to vacate the 20 positions on four commissions. Most sitting commissioners were reappointed, but a few critics were replaced.

Campbell already is on the June ballot for Republican voters as one of 15 candidates for six positions on the county GOP central committee representing Yorba Linda, Placentia, Brea and La Habra. Twelve of the contenders, including five incumbents, are from Yorba Linda.

Two of Campbell's council endorsers, Hernandez and Huang, now serve on the committee, and Young is also running for election to the body. The group grooms Republicans to seek elective offices and makes endorsements in council, school trustee and water board races.

Meanwhile, opponents of recent pricing actions in the Yorba Linda Water District are still seeking a minimum of 9,520 signatures on each of two petitions to qualify a recall of two second-term directors, Bob Kiley and Gary Melton, for a future ballot.

Petitioners hope to time signature submissions so a recall ballot can be combined with the Nov. 8 election, which will include balloting on positions now held by 24-year director Mike Beverage and 12-year director Ric Collett.

A consolidated election could cost an extra $58,000 to $74,000 and an estimated $65,100 to $98,000 to verify petition signatures, according to figures from the county Registrar of Voters.

The Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association lists pro-recall arguments at ylta4yl.org, while an anti-recall group posts at CitizenstoProtectOurWater.com. The groups also host Facebook pages.

The taxpayers group is expected to endorse two replacement candidates, if a recall makes the ballot, and two candidates in the general election, aiming for a four-vote board majority.

And, since the group criticizes council decisions on development, landscaping, Town Center and other issues, it is expected to endorse candidates to oppose Campbell, Hernandez and Young.