The February 8, 2011 Fillmore City Council and Redevelopment Meeting was all about money, or more correctly stated, the lack of it, as the Council struggled to make recommendations in regards to redevelopment monies that may not be available when needed. On the regular agenda was a proposal by Chevron to develop the old Texaco Refinery, Santa Paula East Area Development Project, appointments to the Planning and Film Commissions, and the vacating of Orange Grove Easement to aid Grad-Night-Live (GNL). Items on the Redevelopment agenda included awarding the contract for the baseball field at Two Rivers Park and a request for an extension of KB Homes Participation agreement.

Also, the continuing problem between the City, City Council and the non-profit Grad-Night-Live was again addressed at Tuesday’s Council Meeting. Mayor Gayle Washburn softened the city’s commitment to provide two storage containers to GNL which was made at the December 14, 2010 meeting. At that meeting, Council Member Jamey Brooks said that the city was going to extra effort to help GNL, “Even to the point with Rigo, I guess they’re looking for containers.” Council Member Patti Walker said, “We have located two cargo containers.” And City Manager Yvonne Quiring said, “…and we’re gonna find two containers for her [Chaney] because Rigo has already taken care of that.” So the question remains, will the city honor its commitment to provide two containers for GNL?

It all started with a complaint back in July 2010 by Marina Martinez who was upset with GNL’s donations being stored on a City easement. Brenda Ortiz, the owner of Super Seal where the easement is located, originally gave Gary Copeland permission to fence in the area, and had assumed formal permission had been given to her to use the street. Super Seal and Coachcraft, two businesses with joining properties on Orange Grove, had both donated the space to the non-profit. The misunderstanding happened when permission had been given to Ortiz, but not formally. Ortiz addressed the Council and stated, “This is all a huge misunderstanding.”

Quiring directed the City staff to contact those using the property and ordered the removal of the cargo containers that the nonprofit used to store donations. The containers were moved and subsequently sold.

The situation has created a great hardship for the non-profit which was addressed at the December 14, 2010 City Council meeting. That evening’s City Council gave direction to City staff to begin the vacating of the Orange Grove Easements in order to accommodate the Grad Night Live and meet any concerns from the Fire Department which requires a fire access to the local area. City staff also announced that they are working on getting two cargo containers donated for Grad-Nite-Live to replace those that were sold.

To vacate the easement, a Title Report for both Coachcraft and Super Seal and Stripe was needed to determine the exact locations of the property lines and to determine if utility companies have easements in the street. The cost of the Title Report would have been $500.

A survey engineer would also be needed to prepare a Legal Description and Legal Map so that the easement could be properly abandoned and recorded. The cost estimate for this was $750.

Because this issue pertains to the vacating of easements that are used as a street, the Council expressed concern about fire access. The Fire Chief determined that he needs a 22’ wide access to the 50’ wide easement. This permits a fire truck to park and allow the firefighter to open the fire trucks cabinet doors and allow room for the firefighter to work around the truck.

City staff then presented a map of the resulting easements to Coachcraft and Super Seal and Stripe and both businesses were not in favor of the plan presented.

City staff and the property owners later agreed that an Encroachment Permit costing $80 is the most cost effective and quickest method that would allow the cargo containers to stay. It was agreed an encroachment permit would be issued to Coachcraft and Super Seal for 5 years, but the permit can be revoked if there is any misuse, the existing fence can stay and the City will fix the street light and bike path associated with the area. This will allow the 22’ wide fire access if a Fruitless Mulberry tree is removed from the Coachcraft property and the security lighting will be improve the safety of the area. The City is requesting a letter from Coachcraft to permit the fence to encroach on their property before the planned changes can proceed.

Raelene Chaney asked the Council about when she can expect the two cargo containers. She told the Council that she hasn’t heard anything about them and that time is running out to get the funds for the 2011 Fillmore High School graduating class.

Grad-Night-Live has organized and provided a safe and secure prom for the graduating seniors of Fillmore High for the past 20 years. Before the non-profit stepped in to provide this service, a number of seniors had died from drinking and driving on prom night.

Fillmore Fire Chief Rigo Landeros told Chaney he had contacted Long Beach Harbor and, “It’s beyond my control. To have them donated is a process that could take two weeks or two months.”

Laurie Hernandez addressed the council stating, “Do the right thing and replace the cargo containers.” To which Council Member Brian Sipes added that it needs to get done soon because they’re on a time frame and June is fast approaching.

Chevron’s Senior Project Manager William Almas, along with Leslie Klinchuch, Manager for the Pacific Coast Pipeline, addressed the Council with Chevron’s proposed plans for remediation and reuse of the old Texaco Refinery. This is a 56-acre site located in the Pole Creek area just east of the city limits on Highway 126. In 2001 Texaco merged with Chevron and the property is now referred to as the Pacific Coast Pipeline (PCPL).
From 1915 to 1950, the refinery mainly produced gasoline, diesel and fuel oil and was dismantled in 1951. Refinery wastes were disposed of on-site in a large waste pit and eight smaller unlined pits distributed around the site. In 1952 the facility was converted to a crude oil pumping station, which operated until 2000. The remaining facilities were dismantled and removed by August of 2004.

Years of operations contaminated the soil and the groundwater beneath the site. The primary contaminants in the soil are inorganic lead (a heavy metal), and remnants of weathered petroleum compounds. According to Klinchuch for long-term use the contaminants are above acceptable levels, but do not pose an immediate threat to human health.

The City’s has made 34 recommendations to Chevron regarding the site. Some of those recommendations are an Environmental Impact Report to study noise and traffic flow, along with requesting a bike path for each side of Pole Creek, connecting Main Street with the alley to improve circulation and a trail head to mountain bike and hiking trails. Flooding was a great concern to the Council insisting Chevron properly addressed the problem, with Brooks adding, “Pole Creek is a raging river during the wet season.”

Klinchuch told the Council of Chevron’s plans for remediation and reuse of the site, including additional cleanup of the site as directed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Klinchuch also stated she would make sure that residents of Fillmore are informed when public meeting will be held and she will likely host an information session during the first half of 2001, which will be publicized and open to all residents.
Almas told the Council of his company’s proposed plans to build both commercial and manufacturing facilities on the site along with adding an attractive gateway to the east end of Fillmore on Highway 126, and plans to donate 13 acres of open space land. Almas also stated that Chevron will retain ownership of the project, but will partner with a builder and whatever they build has to be profitable, adding “So if there is no market, we won’t build.”

Mayor Gayle Washburn suggested an alternative proposal of using the site for a solar farm and stated, “Maybe there are some opportunities there.”

Back on the agenda was the issue of awarding the bid for the Two Rivers Park baseball backstops. Of the originally proposed two backstops, only one will be built due to lack of funds.

After such a long time in planning, the five bids submitted to construct the backstop were opened. Bidder one, Macor of Camarillo whose bid came in at $148,000 was awarded the contract.

A $33,000 Parks and Recreation Grant along with an $80,000 Community Development Grant are available along with some Redevelopment funds that were transferred from the Recycling Plant last month to help with the project. But the question of Governor Brown’s cuts to Redevelopment Funds has not been fully answered, so as a result, the Council is not sure if the funds will continue to be there when needed.

An item on the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) agenda was a request to extend the time of a Participation Agreement with KB Homes for 3 more years. This project was approved by the City Council with the original owner Ken Karasiuk back in 2002. In 2003 the project was sold to L2 Companies and the RDA authorized a Participation Agreement of $500,000 to construct four very-low income for sale units and four very-low income rental units (granny flats). These were part of the project’s 110 units of townhomes to be constructed at The River Project. In 2005 KB Homes purchased the project and the RDA assigned the Participation Agreement to KB Homes on June 28, 2005 to grant the $500,000 to be used to construct four very-low income for sale units and four for rental units (granny flats) as part of the approved 110 unit condominium project called The Meadows. The project site is 11.9 acres located at the southwest corner of River St. and Central Ave.

Tom Di Prima, KB Homes Executive Vice President addressed the Council to assure them the project is still alive and mentioned the planned style of the homes having energy efficiency to meet California’s Title 24 building standards. The site has already had some work done which includes grading. When asked by the Council if the run-off of dirt into the river from the grading has been addressed, Prima responded that sand bags have been place to protect the river from ground run-off.

The requested $500,000 grant has not been appropriated in the 2010-2011 budget and there is a projected balance for June 2011 of $1,359,046 in the 901 RDA Low/Mod Housing fund.

However, Governor Brown is submitting a proposal that would eliminate the Redevelopment Agency which will include removal of Housing set-aside money. If this happens the City Staff is concerned that the RDA will not be able to provide the funding agreed upon. Therefore the City Staff added a condition that the Agency is not obligated to provide the Developer all or any portion of the grant if the RDA Low/Mod Housing fund is insufficient due to any cause beyond the reasonable control of the Agency including the taking of, restricting or eliminating of funds by the State of California.