Two operable units on the way toward being deleted

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3/5/2009 2:39:00 PM

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Two operable units on the way toward being deleted

Ann E. Wibbenmeyer
Herald Staff Writer

Institutional controls for California Gulch Superfund Site operable units three and eight got final approval from the county commissioners on March 2.

The public hearing with the planning and zoning commission was on Feb. 23.

With the approval of institutional controls, the process for deleting these two operable units from the National Priorities List for Superfund can begin. The deletions could be written into the federal register in September 2009.

"That will be a great milestone for this community," said Ann Umphres, attorney for Lake County on Superfund issues, who presented the ICs to the planning and zoning commission.

California Gulch has been a Superfund site for 25 years with only two of the 12 operable units deleted from the site in those years.

The ICs will become part of the land-development code. Step one for the new controls will be to hand out a Best Management Practices handbook to all applicants for a building permit within either of the two OUs.

Applicants will have to sign and verify that they received, read and understood the hand out in order to move forward on any projects.

Step two would deal with the properties that have undergone engineered remedies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Superfund process.

Developers who want to build on these properties will have to get project approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which has been a partner in the Superfund projects.

Planning and Zoning Commissioner Bill Klauber asked that these areas be clarified for the building department.

A notation should be made to the maps that shows all of OU 8, which is the same as the flood plain, and the Mineral Belt Trail inside of OU 3, both as an engineered remedy. No other part of OU 3 is considered engineered, according to Doug Jamison with CDPHE.

The third step is for excavating and removing more than 10-cubic-yards of soil from a non-engineered property, which also requires approval from CDPHE. Below the 10 cubic yards, no approval is needed, but the Best Management Practices handout will be given to the applicant.

If these new controls are not followed by property owners or builders within the OUs, there is a $100 fine. If the infraction is serious enough, then environmental charges could be filed by the Colorado attorney general's office.

This is not the first set of ICs to be passed by the county. The first set was rescinded four years ago, just after passing.

This new version, said Klauber, is simple. He was impressed by them, he said.

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