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An old motel bordering Highway 101, considered one of the most contaminated sites in the Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman Superfund site, will be redeveloped into a 26-home subdivision as part of a set of approvals granted Tuesday by the Mountain View City Council.
The plans for 277 Fairchild Drive were unanimously endorsed by the City Council despite concerns from nearby residents that any intensified construction and excavation could send toxic trichloroethylene (TCE) from the groundwater up into the air. Nevertheless the housing developer, city officials and an Environmental Protection Agency regulator all expressed confidence that a plan to monitor and vent the contaminants would provide adequate safeguards for the neighborhood.
“I understand why anyone would be nervous about exposure, but I believe enough has been done here, or will be done, to ensure this will be safe,” said Councilman Lenny Siegel. “Mountain View is a model for constructing homes on TCE sites.”
Safety concerns on digging in the MEW Superfund site were spearheaded by Niki Parenteau, a NASA contractor living just a few feet from the motel property. EPA studies had pinpointed the groundwater at this location as a “hot spot” of TCE, an industrial solvent that leeched into the ground decades ago. Parenteau said she was worried that digging up the soil could bring the contaminants up into the air.
For her, any risks are quite personal because she plans to start a family soon, and studies have linked TCE to birth defects, she said. On her own, she said she had begun using NASA equipment to analyze the toxic plume to gauge any hazards for herself.
“I was surprised the city would consider developing such a contaminated piece of property. It doesn’t seem wise,” she said. “Because of these construction activities, I’m going to be at a higher risk of exposure, and it could prevent me from trying to be pregnant.”
A 2010 report from the EPA declared that TCE is cancer-causing, or carcinogenic, to humans “by all routes of exposure.” TCE is known to cause other health problems, including heart defects in children born to mothers who were exposed to it during critical stages of heart development, according to the EPA.
Speaking at the council meeting on Tuesday, Parenteau urged the council to hold off on approving the project until more cleanup efforts for the TCE contamination are finished.
But site owner Bruce Panchal dismissed those concerns, pointing out that he was a longtime resident of the site for 42 years and raised three children there. In fact, he described his background as a former engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, the company deemed responsible for causing the TCE contamination. He gave assurances that the chemical would dissipate and be rendered harmless once it was vented out.
“I’ve lived there for 42 years, and I’m a healthy person. My wife was pregnant at the time there was a hot spot and my kids are fine,” he said. “It’s not Fukushima or Chernobyl. You can remedy this by purging it out.”
Looking for an impartial answer, Councilman Ken Rosenberg asked whether the proposed new housing would improve the toxic hazards at the site. Zoning administrator Gerry Beaudin said the site already had clean-up efforts that would go forward regardless of the new project. During construction, the site would have a soil-management plan and air monitoring, as well as a system of “appropriate” response actions if any TCE levels were detected, said EPA project manager Alana Lee.
Adding a special condition to the approval, Rosenberg asked for any prospective home buyers to be explicitly warned about the TCE contamination.
The plans to redevelop the ramshackle site also raised larger concerns about the affordability problems afflicting Mountain View and the lack of cheap housing. The site currently consists of a shuttered convenience store, two houses and a 25-room motel that for years has operated as single-room-occupancy housing, which would all be demolished as part of the proposal.
The site is one block from another of Mountain View’s more affordable rental housing options: the RV park that is slated to be replaced by row houses costing about $900,000 each.
Presenting the subdivision plans to the city, Rodger Miller of Warmington Residential, described how his firm’s proposal would transform an “under-utilized” property into a showpiece neighborhood. None of the homes would be set aside as affordable housing, but Miller said a portion of the sales revenue would go to the city’s affordable housing fund.
The motel is still occupied by residents, some of whom have lived there for more than 10 years, according to one public speaker. Even though the rooms are being rented out as permanent housing, city staff reported that motels are specifically exempt from renter protections mandated by the city’s housing relocation ordinance. One councilman criticized this as essentially being a “loophole” in the city’s ordinance.
Anticipating a pitfall that could compromise his company’s plans, Miller made a pledge on the spot that all residents at the site would be given an equivalent sum to what they would have received under the housing ordinance. That sum would amount to about $6,000 per household, with more for families with children or special-need situations.
City leaders approved the plans in a unanimous vote.
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Among the works included in the printmaking show on view at the Pacific Art League through June 25 is Julia Lucey’s print, “Black Bear.” Image courtesy of Julia Lucey. -
Among the photographs on display at the Pacific Art League as part of the Pablove Shutterbugs Gallery Show is this shot, taken by pediatric cancer patient Anya. Photo courtesy of Pablove Foundation.
Uh-oh, we’ve been through this before in this area…”Nothing to worry about building in the contaminated area. We can vent and put barriers down over the foundations.
Nothing to worry about? Well, nothing until there IS something to worry about. Things that cause pregnant women to have to not enter the bldg (Google) because of an UNEXPECTED increase of vapors; concentrations much higher than what are considered safe. Vapors have poured into the homes as well, again, TOTALLY UNEXPECTED and those residents now have life long health worries.
Must build at all cost no matter about human safety, just build baby build!!
We don’t have a shortage of water, we just need to build baby build!
Once the new tenets start suing, the current counsel will probably be long gone, so the citizens will have no one to blame, but we will be excepted to pay up.
For the warriors, win baby win!!
How would we, the people of Mountain View, be expected to “pay up”? I don’t get that.
You buy a house on a chemical dump you take your chances. There is no way the TCE issue isn’t included any disclosures.
So if something pops up down the road no one can say “We didn’t know!”
If everyone claims there is nothing wrong, and 10 year later the truth comes out, and the cancers start, they will sue the city and We, as tax payer, must pay. regardless of the outcome, the costs of the lawsuits could get pretty big.
Are we, as a city, so desperate to look like we’re adding housing that this is approved and thought of as a good idea? The city council is nuts!
This is total insanity by a city council bought and paid for by developer $$$ and ultra-lib politics. That site should not be developed until ALL groundwater pollution is cleaned up. Is the MV City Council so obsessed with overcrowding MV that they actually will allow housing to be build on toxic ground??? Our schools and our traffic already are overcrowded. Just what do these fools think that they were elected to do?
“I have lived there and I’m fine. Therefore, there’s no problem at all what so ever.” Can’t disagree with an argument like that, eh?
Actually, the proposed development would be perfect for you, given your toxic posts here…
I lived in that neighborhood for 8 years. I had 2 cats die at a young age. I developed PolycythemiaVera. Sometimes my house smelled like dry cleaning, especially in the winter when the windows were closed. Moved out of state a year ago. It is not safe.
Really? Surely this land has been a desired development site for years and has been rejected in the past. Why now? Nothing has changed that makes it any safer than it was in the past. Building more homes on contaminated ground is not the answer. Exposing existing homeowners to toxic waste clean-up is also not the answer. The contamination that flows to this area will continue because it originates elsewhere and flows here with the water. Unless there are plans to clean up the origin of the contamination, which there aren’t, the site will continue to be contaminated.
Go back to the drawing board. City council, clean up your act!
This is the former site of a semi-conductor manufacturer. (Fairchild?) These factories used carbon tetrachloride to clean equipment/materials, and the liquid was allowed to flow into the ground. If the solvents were exposed to the air, they would evaporate, and after some time, become relatively harmless. But, much went into the ground, did not evaporate, and remains there to this day. I recollect that this is a Superfund site, which means the Feds pay for cleanup. However, the clean-up seems not to have worked. After so many years, it would seem obvious to many that effective clean-up is not possible.
If it the contaminants were of such little concern.
Why did the EPA workers were Haz-Mat suits and breathing mask when dealing with the soil and water samples?.. I agree the contaminants are of little concern when covered by asphalt and concrete.. unless the build a bubble over the site during construction i am not sure how they can keep it from being airborn.
punnisher, the main contaminant in Rocky Flats was radiation. It’s a lousy comparison; apples to oranges, but I guess they are both fruit(both SF sights).
From your confident posts you seem to have very direct understandings of this, but I’m confused why you would compare the two as they are really quite different in how they are cleaned up and actions needed to do so.
Are you at all educated in the remediation of chlorinated solvents or possess a strong background organic chemistry? Have you worked in the remediation industry for a while?
That’s the sort of expertise needed. We’ll all be screwed if we listen to every arm chair know-it-all who really doesn’t know much except his opinions..
@OldMV:
There is room to debate whether the City Council is “bought” by developers, but the statement the Mountain View schools are over crowded is not debatable. The public schools want and need more students.
The solution is to water the ground for 1 hour a day and allow burning of fire wood inside to rid the homes of this toxin.
Mountain View has lost its soul to developers,Google .
Come on, you doubt that our illustrious and trustworthy council can be counted to make the right decision and not one in the interest of the developer?
Ahh, Fairchild Semiconductor finally closed the ” Rust Bucket “. OSHA has a LONG LIST that you had to read before working at any semiconductor plant.
This clean-up should PUT ANY DEVELOPEMENT OF THE SURROUNDING AREA ON HOLD UNTIL ALL AREAS SHOW A MAJOR IMPROVEMENT IN THE RELEASE OF TOXIC GASES AND GROUND CONTAMINATION!
( yes, I know I am shouting )
You might want to talk to East Palo Alto about how the ROMIC Superfund Site was handled.
http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/romic-eastpaloalto/
If you can spend the money, you can find out how Denver and Rocky Flats handled their Superfund Sites.
The ROMIC Superfund Site is much like the ” Rust Bucket ” Site.
Use that site as a guide to how the site in Mountain View is handled.
You now cannot plead ignorance. You have been informed, MV City Council. I suggest you have a chat with your staff attorney about liability in future years.