CLEANUP IN PHASES PROPOSED; BERMITE LAND BACK ON AGENDA.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

A City Council policy forbidding development on the contaminated Bermite property until a cleanup is complete falls under the microscope this summer as new owners push for phased development of the former munitions factory.

The unanimous council vote - taken in 1996 when the city first signed a development agreement for a planned community with 2,911 homes with then-owner Whittaker Porta Bella Development Corp. - overrides a clause in the pact allowing phased development, City Attorney Carl Newton said during a special City Council work session on Wednesday.

The land's current owner, Santa Clarita LLC, has made amending that provision a top priority among changes to the original development agreements proposed by City Planning Director Jeff Lambert said.

While the city has pushed for one massive environmental cleanup of the 996-acre property - which would support a new high school, major east-to-west highway and a municipal transportation maintenance facility - developers are seeking leniency to do it in phases. They're hoping to sell off cleaned sections for development to help finance the rest of the cleanup.

The original development agreement provides for 92 acres of commercial property, 434 acres of open space and 42 acres for active parkland and recreation south of Soledad Canyon Road and east of San Fernando Road.

Santa Clarita LLC, along with Remediation Financial Inc., the Arizona-based firm managing the project and cleanup, plan in the coming weeks to submit proposed changes to the original agreement and to the specific and general plans. The City Council is expected to vote in September on Planning Commission recommendations.

City officials this week were confident that the new property owners may see some relief, given the significant changes that have taken place since the council's 1996 vote.

``All the players have changed,'' city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said Thursday. ``It was a different City Council at the time, and it was a different owner at the time.''

Whittaker Corp. ceased manufacturing government munitions at the Bermite site in 1988 but made no effort to clean the land prior to selling it to Santa Clarita LLC in January, Ortiz said.

Perchlorate, an inorganic chemical used to manufacture rocket fuel and explosives, as well as the treatment of thyroid disorders, was found on 100 acres of the property and in some nearby municipal wells in 1997.

Thomas Coda, a state Department of Toxic Substances Control scientist at the site, said the DTSC so far has identified close to 250 chemicals there. However, not all are considered risks to public health. Testing continues to determine which harmful chemicals and parcels must be remediated, he said.

Santa Clarita LLC and RFI representatives, who outlined their ``phased remediation'' strategy during a Wednesday's council session, said they changed their priority list for cleanup so the sites for Golden Valley High School and Golden Valley Road would be tackled first.

``It was really a favor to us to begin this way, so we could have the school and access to it,'' Mayor Jo Anne Darcy said of the company's efforts.

Ortiz agreed Thursday, saying that Santa Clarita LLC has ``done a hero's job,'' working to accommodate the William S. Hart Union High School District, city officials and DTSC.

With phased remediation, the cleanup would be conducted in seven sections. The state would conduct testing on each unit before and after its cleanup, then certify it for development if its meets standards, officials said. The DTSC favors breaking the cleanup site into smaller parcels, Coda said, because it makes assessments and testing ``more manageable.''

With the DTSC's approval of the phased remediation plan, the City Council is one of the last authorities to allow Santa Clarita LLC to proceed with that plan. However, the council's decision would be subject to appeal by referendum, according to Newton. The public may circulate a petition and, if enough signatures are gathered, voters will have the final say at a special election.