End in sight for cleanup of underground gasoline contamination in Yorba Linda at Imperial Hghwy

Finally – more than 15 years after Yorba Linda acquired land formerly occupied by a gasoline station on Imperial Highway just west of the library – an end is in sight for remediation of contamination caused by longtime leakage from the station's underground storage tanks.

A 60-day public review period for a “case closure” document ended May 11, and the Orange County Health Care Agency is expected to issue a notice authorizing the abandonment of 17 wells that were monitoring contamination from the 12,872-square-foot site.

The final step will be a “no further action needed” letter issued by the health care agency, “upon which the project will be deemed complete and the site eligible for use or sale,” the City Council was told in a May 19 report prepared by Assistant City Engineer Rick Yee.

The letter is needed before escrow can close on a sale of the former station site and library land to In-N-Out Burgers. The restaurant entered into a purchase agreement with the city in 2018, with the agreement amended at a March 17 council meeting to clarify several matters.

The city will assume liability for any additional remediation “that may become evident after the closing of escrow, construction of the project and opening of the restaurant,” according to a report to the council from Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager, in March.

Stoker stated that the amendment clarifies the city's demolition and site preparation duties, including locating and staking utilities, abandoning and capping existing utilities at the prop-erty line and assisting in the quitclaim and release of certain easements on the parcel.

After the city purchased the property in 2004 to facilitate Imperial Highway widening, the Superior Court required the city to eliminate underground contamination. The removal of floating gasoline from the groundwater was completed in 2011, with the next years spent removing the dissolved gasoline mixed with groundwater.

The site now meets the technical requirements of the county health care agency and the guidelines set by the State Water Resources Control Board by the city-hired remediation contractor, Stantec Consulting Services, with some 17,500 pounds of contaminate removed.

Cost will total close to $1.2 million by the time the fencing with the green canvas security screen is removed, with the Orange County Transportation Agency and the State Under-ground Storage Tank Program picking up most of the expense.

The city's portion is expected to be $204,523. A $66,934 credit will be returned to the city.

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Yorba Linda has temporarily relaxed outdoor dining regulations for private property and public sidewalks and other public rights-of-way to help in reopening restaurant activities.

Areas are to be used for dining only, with no entertainment allowed under a one-page temporary use permit obtained from the Community Preservation Division at City Hall.

Yorba Linda's City Council 'era of good feelings' with shortest meetings ever; city's emergency declaration renewed at each council session

Yorba Linda's current City Council members – already known for holding some of the shortest meetings in the city's near-53-year history – have appreciably lessened the time they've spent in formal sessions since the state's coronavirus shutdown was initiated.

Council meetings have lasted less than an hour for each of the three sessions held since the governor's March 19 stay-at-home declaration: 48 minutes on May 5, 46 minutes on April 21 and 52 minutes on April 7, with the five members mostly participating from their homes.

The length of the five meetings held earlier this year ranged from one hour and 22 minutes to one hour and 53 minutes, close to the usual session times since Carlos Rodriguez joined Tara Campbell, Beth Haney, Gene Hernandez and Peggy Huang on the dais in late 2018.

A majority of the 2019 meetings lasted less than two hours, with only one meeting finishing past the four-hour mark. In 2018, 10 meetings took less than two hours and just one ended after four hours.

By contrast, eight meetings in each year from 2014 through 2017 ran from four to six hours, and in 2013, 19 meetings lasted from four to six hours, with one session ending at 1:17 a.m. the next day.

However, the city's longest-ever meeting times occurred in 2012, during the period when a 3-2 council division dropped Brea as the city law enforcement contractor and hired the Orange County Sheriff's Department to provide policing services for the 20-square-mile city.

Of the 26 regular and adjourned meetings that year, 14 lasted from four to 10 hours. One session, on April 24-25, ended at 3:15 a.m., and another, on July 17-18, adjourned at 3:10 a.m.

Again, in contrast to past councils, the current members rarely express disagreements with each other on major matters. And, in a significant departure from councils in the 1990s and the 2000 to 2016 period, personal animosities among members are not evident at the dais.

Of course, all current members are active Republicans, though nearly all past members were Republicans, with one or two registered as “declined to state.” But that didn't stop the digs and slights they directed at one another during contentious sessions littered with 3-2 votes.

Maybe there's a lack of controversial issues lately, but it will be interesting to see how long this “era of good feelings” lasts.

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One item on the past four council agendas is a “proclamation of the existence of a local emergency” issued March 16 by City Manager Mark Pulone amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Pulone's proclamation was ratified by a unanimous council vote on March 17 and upheld at the April 7, April 21 and May 5 meetings because council determined “the need for the local emergency proclamation continues.”

The proclamation empowers Pulone “to adopt rules, policies and regulations to protect the public, to protect life and property, and to ensure the availability of essential city services.”