Representatives from the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control did their best rope-a-dope impression as they took everything local residents threw at them before countering during a well-attended July 27 meeting on the plan to clean toxic soil on a proposed northeast Morgan Hill school site.
Vivek Mathrani, a toxicologist/risk assessor for the state, said the 9-acre plot of land in northeast Morgan Hill is not “toxic,” even though the DTSC has determined it contains heightened levels of the potentially harmful chemical dieldrin.
“I’ve been in tune with what’s been happening….I can understand how unsettling it can be when the media portrays the site as a toxic site,” Vivek said. “There is no imminent health hazard associated with it.”
Vivek further explained that an individual would have to be exposed to the dieldrin in the soil by direct contact for 24 hours a day, seven days a week over a 30-year time period to experience the most harmful effects. He stated the Peet Road site poses only “low level risk with long-term exposure.”
The 9-acre parcel of land located on Peet Road and Mission Avenida in the affluent and expanding northeast portion of Morgan Hill was donated to the district by the Borello family in 2003 for the sole purpose of building an elementary school.
In June, the current school board voted 4-3 to approve a “delegation of authority to award the remediation contract for the S.G. Borello Elementary School.” The estimated cost of the cleanup is $1,675,635, according to district staff. The district must still get final approval from the DTSC, which is conducting a 30-day public comment portion that ends Aug. 7 prior to making its final determination on the RAW.
When prodded by residents with questions during the Q&A portion of the July 27 program about the level of contamination of the soil, DTSC schools unit chief Jose Salcedo responded: “We don’t have hazardous waste at the Borello property. We have soil that is slightly contaminated.”
When one resident asked if the soil would still contain dieldrin—the most prominent pesticide detected throughout the property—at deeper levels than the excavation called for, DTSC project manager Mellan Songco replied, “Yes.” The state followed up that new, clean dirt will be delivered to the site and backfilled, and asphalt will be laid on top of that.
Attendees split on support
However, opponents of Morgan Hill Unified School District’s $1.6 million Removal Action Workplan to “dig and haul” about 19,593 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the 9-acre Peet Road property to a nearby waste disposal site did not have confidence it would be done without endangering nearby residents as well as future students and teachers of the school. Many neighbors of the open field and former prune orchard either want school district leaders to abandon the plan altogether or further investigate other options for cleansing the soil riddled with harmful agricultural pesticides.
“Morgan Hill does not need another school. Our current schools need remodeling and help,” said Arthur Kilinski, a local resident and parent. “Don’t build a school that will kill our children.”
In contrast, proponents of the cleanup plan and new elementary school who also attended Thursday’s meeting hosted by the DTSC inside the El Toro Room of the Community and Cultural Center commended school officials for taking extra precaution in wanting to rid the former farmland of pesticides.
“Do we ignore the possibilities and abandon the site leaving the pesticide there covered up and hope it goes away? Farm it and stir it up again?,” questioned longtime resident Joan Sullivan. “Professionals concerned with the protection of our environment and safety of its residents have told us how to remediate the situation by removing a contamination. I trust these experts.”
Former school board president Bob Benevento further explained that if the district does not act now to remediate the soil and build a school on the property, then it will go back to the previous owner who can build a dozen more residential units on the property without needing DTSC’s oversight.
“My concern is if we do nothing, the profiteers, the developers, will gain and you the community will lose this school in an area where a school is required,” Benevento said. “That goes beyond the fact that many homeowners in that area purchased their homes with the understanding that a neighborhood school would be built. I think we need to go forward with this program.”
Along with newer communities already sprouted up in the northeast part of town, developers have more than 600 housing units in the works, according to district staff.
As part of the cleanup, the contaminated soil will be wetted down before being loaded onto trucks so it won’t create dust. In addition, dust monitors will be set up along the perimeter of the property and an alarm will go off with any visible dust detected in the air. The truck beds will be covered when transporting the soil to the Kirby Canyon Landfill Management Facility (910 Coyote Creek Golf Drive) for disposal.
Apparently, Kirby will only take the soil after it is tested at a lab for its level of toxicity. It must be considered non-hazardous for Kirby to handle it or else the soil has to be transported to another location. Residents worry that wind will blow the contaminants around the neighborhood while it is in stockpiles waiting for approval.
“We have plenty of confirmation sampling” to know that the soil will be accepted at Kirby, Salcedo said. “We have enough characterization to have an accurate number on the volume of soil that needs to be off-hauled.”
According the Environmental Protection Agency, dieldrin, a now banned insecticide used on fruit, soil, and seed, decreases the effectiveness of the immune system, may increase infant mortality, reduces reproductive success, may cause cancer, may cause birth defects and damages the kidneys.
DTSC still reviewing district’s RAW
It will take about 1,600 truckloads over a nine-week span to clean up the site, according to the state’s presentation. The remaining soil will also be tested for confirmation that it is pesticide-free before any construction begins.
Construction of the new $20 million school is estimated to take 490 days immediately following the off-hauling, through February 2019. The new school will be funded through the $198 million Measure G capital improvements bond along with developer fees.
The property, part of an original 14-acre plot, was approved for residential use in 2005 after a bioremediation (a process that shocks the toxins from the soil) was deemed a success by the DTSC. Houses were built on several acres on the northern portion and the rest was donated to the school district. However, when the district called for retesting while assessing the land, the pesticides were again discovered and at a more concentrated level.
When questioned about the rebound of pesticides, the state alleged the land had been farmed on again as it remained unoccupied and the Borellos waited for the school district’s decision after the 2005 certification. When one resident asked how the dieldrin could again be detected since it had been banned for decades, the state said it must have “been reapplied or accidentally reapplied.” They also clarified that when a substance is banned it only means it can’t be sold anymore.
The next steps in the process include DTSC’s final approval of district’s RAW that will come only after the CEQA environmental impact report is approved; then the RAW implementation; and finally the site certification following the cleanup. A work notice will be mailed out to residents giving the time schedule and what to expect during the remediation, according to the state.
