BERMITE CLEANUP TOO SLOW CITY URGED TO OVERSEE WORK AT POLLUTED SITE.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Unless the City Council agrees to play some role in the cleanup and development of the site of the former Bermite munitions factory, the center of the city will remain polluted and unusable for the foreseeable future, officials said.

Throughout the state, cities and counties have been forced to step in and help private companies pay for and complete the cleanup and development of land polluted by defunct industrial operations, said Gregory D. Trimarche, an attorney hired by the city to work on the complicated project.

``It would be highly unusual for a developer to pull off a project this large and complicated without phased development and-or public financing,'' Trimarche said.

And despite resistance within the community, phased development of the 1,000 acres would be safe and effective, said Charles Miller, a toxicologist with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Remediation Financial Inc., an Arizona-based company specializing in brown-field development, and Santa Clarita LLC, the developer, are the city's best shot at filling the empty and unproductive center of the city, officials said.

``I'm not saying rah-rah RFI - they are a developer like any other,'' said city planning and services director Jeff Lambert. ``But many others have passed on this project, and RFI has a real financial incentive to see it cleaned up. But without phased development and public funds, they'll go away and cut their losses.''

If that happens, ownership of the property would revert back to Whitaker-Bermite, which has little or no incentive to clean the property in the center of the city quickly and to a high enough standard for development, even though the company has agreed to be liable for a portion of the cleanup costs, Lambert said.

``The reality is that it would be economically viable for Whitaker to spend money on lawyers, who would certainly succeed in delaying the process, because the remediation is so expensive,'' Lambert said.

Still Mayor Laurene Weste said she was unsure Lambert's statements were accurate and expressed her confidence that Whitaker could be forced to foot the bill.

``There is a consent decree, and the water will get cleaned one way or another,'' Weste said.

About 275 chemicals left over from decades of munitions manufacturing and testing by Whitaker-Bermite pollute the property. Cleaning the site, which is also littered with unexploded ordnance, and ridding the area's groundwater of perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel, is expected to be a very complicated, drawn-out and expensive project.

The perchlorate pollution has forced the capping of four municipal wells, costing the Castaic Lake Water Agency 8,000 gallons of water a minute that the Santa Clarita Valley would need during a drought. The CLWA has sued Santa Clarita LLC to force the company to pay for well-head treatments.

``I think it is pretty clear that everyone wants to get the water cleaned,'' Lambert said. ``But to make that happen, you have to clean the site, too. And that's what we're waiting to hear from the council, whether they want to be involved in that.''

In 1995, the Santa Clarita City Council approved the 3,000-home Porta Bella development once the property is cleaned. On April 24, the City Council will decide whether to direct staff to pursue a role for the city in the cleanup effort and develop a citywide strategy for dealing with polluted industrial properties.

Members of the Citizens Advisory Group, which was formed to oversee the cleanup efforts, told the City Council this week they oppose the city taking any formal role in the cleanup process. A formal vote on phased development and public financing of Porta Bella is expected this summer.

``Many things have changed since that development was approved,'' said Connie Worden Roberts, chairwoman of the advisory group. ``This needs to be reconsidered.''

The advisory group has grown increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of the cleanup effort, especially when it comes to the groundwater. A rainy winter, a cumbersome bureaucratic process and Santa Clarita LLC's inability to complete planned work all have slowed the process.

``Just as fast as the plans have been approved by the DTSC, we've begun doing as much as we can,'' said Alan Berg, the Porta Bella project manager.

The effort is proceeding on two parallel tracks, one analyzing the size and scope of the groundwater pollution and the other addressing the surface contamination. Priority is being given to the groundwater work, said John Naginis, an engineering geologist with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.