Coalition demands testing

Jenny Marder

A neighborhood group is demanding that development of Pacific City on

the former Chevron Co. oil field be halted until groundwater and soil

are fully tested for contaminants by an independent firm.

The Pacific City Action Coalition, an organization of about 30

area residents, has committed to serving as watchdogs for the project

that is slated to be built on the 31-acre field bordered by Pacific

Coast Highway, Atlanta Avenue, Huntington and 1st streets.

Plans call for the sprawling development to include a luxury

resort, 516 residential townhouses, upscale shopping, restaurants and

office space.

As plans for the development have begun to inch closer to reality

over the past few years, concerns over the project’s potential

effects on the health, the environment and the quality of life of the

surrounding neighborhood have begun to surface in the minds nearby

homeowners.

Coalition members are trying to block all grading and construction

on the site until tests on the soil and groundwater have been

completed by an outside firm. They fear recent grading of the land

has been releasing toxins in to the air and could be related to a

rash of severe headaches reported throughout their neighborhood.

The coalition has no bone to pick with the project itself,

coalition board member Ron Satterfield. In fact, the group supports

the project, he said.

“In our opinion it’s a needed project within the city,”

Satterfield said. “It will join hotels there, it will blend in with

Downtown and it will bring needed revenue into the city...We’re not

against the project, we’re just saying do it right.”

The group’s primary concern is that developers make certain the

soil isn’t contaminated with toxins that could become airborne and be

inhaled by nearby residents before they continue grading and begin

construction. Nearly two dozen oil wells, that were removed years

ago, have left traces of oily residue in their place.

The city is cleaning up the site and Mary Beth Broeren, principal

planner for the city, said that development won’t begin until the

required testing and cleanup are completed.

“We have a pretty good handle on what’s on the property and what

was on the property,” Broeren said. “They’re doing the remediation

consistent with fire department specifications designed to ensure the

health and safety of the surrounding area.”

The site was also cleaned up when soil tested positive for

asbestos and lead after two buildings, the Huntington Shores motel

and the Grinder Restaurant, were demolished.

This isn’t the first time that the city has performed this type of

cleanup to make land safe for development, Broeren said. The

Holly-Seacliff area, once a Chevron field, was cleaned and then

redeveloped with homes.

Members of the coalition say they won’t be satisfied until they

know for sure that the soil is clean and free of toxins.

“We want them to bore some holes out there, have it come up clean

and sign it off and then we’re off [their] back,” Satterfield said.

Traffic is also high on the group’s list of concerns. The

coalition fears that enhanced traffic from Pacific City will clog

surrounding streets and take up residential parking spaces.

“It’s not that they shouldn’t build something, but make the limit

so that it doesn’t envelop our whole area around here,” Satterfield

said. “We’re asking them to be within reason and consider the

neighborhood around us.

“We’ve had a quality of life here,” he said. “Let’s not inundate

it so that the quality of life changes.”

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected].