Foothills Sentry - August 2022

Page 3 Foothills Sentry August 2022 7540 E. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92869 (714) 639-9792 MEAT&DELI, PRODUCE, BAKERY, FRESH FISH, GIFT BASKETS, WINE MON-SAT: 8am - 9pmSUN: 8am - 8pm www.Pac i�i cRanchMarket.com $ OFF Excluding alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. With coupon only. May not be combined with any other offer or discount. Limit one coupon per customer. Valid only at P aci�ic Ranch Market. When You Spend $25 or More * EXPIRES: 08/31/22 5 OC’s Premier ProduceMarket Dru Whitefeather said the city has turned a blind eye to the ac - tivity on the site, that it is not a sand and gravel operation, but an illegal landfill. He asked the city to provide inspection records (mentioned in the staff report) from 2013 to 2018, but suspects they don’t exist. Laura Thomas asked, “What responsible city council would allow those mountains of waste to happen?” And now, she added, the LEA is going to allow the per - petrator to police itself. Kim Nichols took the lead on the council discussion that cov - ered the status of the site, juris - diction, zoning, private property and possibilities for the future. Nichols noted that it’s a “complex issue,” but what happened in the past is the past, the council needs to look forward, and “Something needs to be done.” That “something,” she sug - gested, might be finding federal or state funds to buy the land. “Maybe the community would be willing to do a bond. I know there's a lot of anger in the com - munity. We need to have a con - versation about what is possible. I’d like to direct staff to see what we can do. A lot of people want to look back. I think it is important to look forward.” Time for due diligence “It’s important to understand the past to better form the future,” Arianna Barrios countered. “I know there’s been a lack of dili - gence, a lack of documentation from the property owner. That concerns me," she said. "I would want an independent review [of the cleanup]. I don’t trust the landowner.” In order to move forward, Ana Gutierrez advised, “I need to learn a lot more about what has transpired to determine a proper end use. It’s not our responsibility Stockpiled construction debris dominates the landscape. to clean it up, but it is our respon - sibility to follow it. I wouldn’t want to purchase it until it is cleaned up.” “We’ve given staff some direc - tion,” Mayor Mark Murphy sum - marized. “Let’s look at the pas - sive uses that the public is looking for. What would be the pathways to get there? We can charter staff to get to some solutions. There are things that have to happen; staff can outline environmental requirements. The property is up for sale. There may be an oppor - tunity we haven’t considered.” “Before we do that,” Barrios interjected, “we have to better understand the site and what our liabilities are.” She also noted her concern that the land next to Mabury Ranch was not part of the agreement. “We don’t know what hap - pened at that other site,” she said. “Are we at any risk? What if Mi - lan doesn’t clean it up, declares bankruptcy and walks away?” Monaco monologue Chip Monaco attended the meeting via telephone from Ha - waii. During a roughly eight-min - ute monologue, he stressed that the site is private property, and the landowner can do whatever he wants with it, within regula - tory constraints. The city, he said, had no control over what did or didn’t happen there. He chastised his colleagues for focusing on “wishful thinking” and “what-ifs.” We need to stop talking about it and do something, he insisted. Do we want it as open space or do we not? If we want to buy it, we should find a way to do that. We should be prepared to pay market value for it. He specifically called out col - leagues Barrios and Gutierrez for “pandering to their constituents,” “chest pounding,” and "ignor - ing the facts.” “It comes down to the leadership of this council, not pandering as some members continually do,” he said. “My col - leagues don’t acknowledge what it takes to get things done. We change it by acquiring the prop - erty. We have to put our money where our mouth is. They are not going to clean it up.” Monaco criticized “those The city staff report on the Sully-Miller site said that the city performs annual inspections at the behest of the state water board. The inspec- tors apparently missed the large abandoned fuel tank sitting in the San- tiago Creek bed. “There’s no record of it,” City Attorney Gary Sheatz said. Reportedly, there were two underground tanks that stored gas and diesel fuel and four above-ground tanks for oil and lubricant removed in the 1990s. OPA people,” specifically public speakers Dru Whitefeather and Laura Thomas, for making com - ments that are “blatantly untrue and misguided” and “blaming the council for doing nothing. Stop coming to us,” he steamed. “It’s not our property. We have no regulatory authority over it. I’m tired of this discussion.” “I am tired of it too,” Barrios conceded. “I’m tired of talking about what’s important to me and being belittled and treated in a manner unbecoming to a profes - sional sitting on this dais, and that you (Monaco) would belittle resi - dents who disagree with you." “It’s garbage,” she said to Mark Murphy, “that he can call each one of us out as if we were chil - dren. We want to make sure if we move forward that the city is pro - tected, that it’s the right deal for us. What are our liabilities? It’s not pandering, but asking for in - formation.” Monaco attempted a rebut - tal, but Murphy cut him off and closed the discussion. The coun - cil agreed that further discussion is needed and directed city staff to investigate “options” for a future meeting. "Orange breaks" continued from page 1 Mapquest photo Photo by Tony Richards