SOLUTION SOUGHT FOR SITE FIRM SUGGESTS COMPROMISE.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The owners of the former Bermite explosives factory have suggested several possible compromises to city officials, hoping to avert a lawsuit and the closure of the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station.

In one such scenario, Remediation Financial Inc., the property owner, would not be allowed to build any homes until the entire site is certified as clean by state officials, but would be able to move forward with its commercial-industrial developments as soon as those portions of the property are cleaned up, company officials said.

``We would like to move forward once those parcels are clean and certified,'' said Gary Brown, the company's director of development. ``We think that's a fair compromise.''

About 275 chemicals and unexploded ordnance waste litter the 996 acres in the center of the city where U.S. Defense Department contract work was conducted for decades. Four municipal wells were shut down in 1997 after a high concentration of perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel, was found in the water. Perchlorate, which has been linked to thyroid disease, was used on the site.

The City Council would have to approve any change to the development agreement for the 2,911-home Porta Bella project. Under that agreement, the entire site must be certified by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control before any construction is permitted.

RFI officials contend that city officials violated that agreement by allowing Golden Valley Road to be built on the eastern portion of the property and by failing to fulfill a memorandum of understanding signed by the City Council in 1999. The company has vowed to sue the city.

RFI officials say that unless they are allowed to develop each portion of the property as it is cleared by the DTSC, the project is not possible. The company is out of cash, and faces significant debts.

Brown declined to discuss other potential compromises that have been talked about with city officials in what he said were a ``number of conversations.''

Earlier this month, RFI terminated the city's $1-a-month lease of the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station off Soledad Canyon Road and blocked construction of the next phase of Golden Valley Road, viewed as crucial to the area.

Without an agreement between city and company officials, the station's last day of service will be July 31.

During a closed door meeting last week, the council members unanimously agreed to defend the lawsuit, if RFI pursues it. While the lawsuit has been filed, it has not been served, to allow time for negotiations, Brown said.

A majority of the council members also agreed to terminate Santa Monica-based attorney Greg Trimarche, who specializes in the legal issues that surround cleanup and development of polluted former industrial properties. He worked for the city for a year.

``I was told that in light of the lawsuit, the City Council decided to focus their legal resources on defense,'' Trimarche said Friday.

State law allows the City Council to keep matters involving personnel and litigation confidential.

In a presentation to the City Council earlier this year, Trimarche said that it would take a partnership between RFI and the city to get the former munitions factory cleaned up. The City Council balked at such an agreement, with several council members saying that the potential liability was too great to get involved in the cleanup.