BERMITE CLEANUP LAID OUT FIRM OFFERS 4-YEAR TIMETABLE FOR POLLUTED SITE.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The company weighing whether to buy the polluted and defunct Bermite explosives factory has presented city leaders with a plan that would clean the entire site in four years, officials said.

The time line presented by Cherokee Investment Partners would rid the 996-acre property in the center of the city of dozens of toxic chemicals left from decades of munitions manufacturing much faster than city leaders ever expected, said Councilman Bob Kellar.

``There are now things on the table that have never been there before,'' Kellar said. ``I hope Cherokee will finalize its purchase of the property. It is clear that the company has the financial wherewithal to get the cleanup done.''

Cherokee plans to spend the first year of the process detailing exactly what toxins and contaminants are present on the hilly property and cleaning up ``hot spots'' that state officials believe are responsible for the contamination of the area's groundwater with perchlorate, a rocket fuel byproduct that has been linked to thyroid disease.

``At this point it's still a conceptual plan, but one we feel confident in,'' said Dwight Stenseth, Cherokee's managing director.

While the soil could be cleaned up in as little as three years, treatment of the five wells shut down because of perchlorate contamination and the polluted groundwater on the site could take as long as 25 to 30 years, officials said.

``We've made more progress in the last year than we have in the last 20,'' said City Manager Ken Pulskamp. ``It is very encouraging.''

If Cherokee's proposed timetable proves realistic, it would be financially possible to hold off on any development until the site's soil is certified as clean by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, Stenseth said.

That would fulfill a key demand made by Santa Clarita officials.

The current owner of the beleaguered property, Phoenix-based Remediation Financial Inc., bowed out of the project after the City Council refused to allow the company to develop the property in phases as the cleanup was completed in each section.

Cherokee is expected to decide by June 1 whether to finalize its purchase of the property.

Before making a decision, Cherokee plans to come to an agreement with the state agency overseeing the cleanup as to what needs to be done and when, and how it will be paid for, Stenseth said.

The asking price for the land is at least $65 million - the amount of liens against the property. The cost of the cleanup could reach as high as $100 million, according to city estimates.

Cherokee also hopes to resolve the liens on the property, along with the lawsuits filed against RFI by the city and the Castaic Lake Water Agency, before moving forward, said Santa Clarita Planning Director Jeff Lambert.

Members of the Citizens Advisory Group keeping tabs on the cleanup said Thursday they were cautiously optimistic about Cherokee's initial cleanup and development plans.

``They seem to have a good handle on problems, and they are clearly thinking ahead,'' said group member John Grannis. ``So far, they are talking the talk, and doing a very good job of it.''

An agreement laying out a conceptual development plan for the site could be brought to the City Council for approval as early as April, officials said.

That vision includes a reconfiguration of the roads expected to crisscross the property, fewer homes than the 2,911 currently planned for the site and more job opportunities, according to Grannis and other group members who have seen Cherokee's conceptual maps.

In addition, the plan calls for the property's ridgelines to be untouched, while preserving more than half of the site as open space, group members said.

``There is certainly a lot more green on the map,'' according to group member Hunt Braly.