CITY SEEKS PROTECTION IN BERMITE CLEANUP SANTA CLARITA PURSUES AGREEMENT TO SHIELD IT FROM SUITS OVER SITE OR POSSIBLE BANKRUPTCY.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - City officials are concerned that Santa Clarita could be left holding the bag if the company working to clean up the site of the former Bermite munitions factory folds.

The city is working with Phoenix-based Remediation Financial Inc. on an agreement that would protect the city if the cleanup prompts lawsuits or the company - along with developer Santa Clarita LLC - goes bankrupt, City Attorney Carl Newton said.

Santa Clarita LLC plans to develop the Bermite land as the community of Porta Bella, 3,000 homes and a retail district. Santa Clarita LLC has told city officials that the developer cannot afford to clean the entire 1,000-acre site without developing portions of the property as they are cleared under supervision by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

``That's high school economics,'' said Porta Bella site manager Allan Berg.

About 275 chemicals have been found on the site of the defunct munitions factory, which produced weapons for the federal government for several decades. Unexploded ordnance has been found throughout the site, and perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel linked to thyroid problems, has leeched into the ground water, closing four municipal wells.

The meetings, which are preliminary, are being held to define the risk to the city - and taxpayers, said RFI Development Director Gary Brown.

``We feel certain that the city is adequately protected,'' Brown said.

The original development agreement prohibits RFI from grading any of the property and building any homes until the entire site receives clearance from the DTSC and the state Department of Health Services.

The Santa Clarita City Council's approval of the Porta Bella project is contingent on cleaning up the pollution on the ground and in the water.

However, in March 1999, the council approved a memorandum of understanding with RFI, promising to address its phased development proposal in return for an extension on the lease of the Metrolink station on Bermite property on Soledad Canyon Road.

The council is not expected to address the issue until the spring, said city Planning Director Jeffrey Lambert.

Newton said he would advise the City Council not to vote on the issue until an agreement defining the liability of the city and the financial situation of RFI is reached.

Several members of the Citizens Advisory Group, a volunteer organization formed to keep tabs on the cleanup, have been very vocal in their opposition to phased development.

``I'm against it, because I have no comfort level that any of it is safe,'' said Carl Kanowsky, a local attorney. ``That's the main concern.''

RFI and Santa Clarita LLC have already been sued by the Castaic Lake Water Agency, and it is unclear whether the city may also be named in that lawsuit.

The water wholesaler wants RFI to speed up the cleanup of the perchlorate contamination from the four wells, which draw on the Saugus Aquifer. The aquifer provides a necessary source of water during drought years.

Cleanup of those wells is expected to cost at least $35 million, CLWA General Manager Bob Sagehorn said.