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.