Foothills Sentry September 2023

Foothills Sentry Page 2 September 2023 PEACE OF MIND PROTECTION for your home or business S E R V I C E S I N C SECURITY JADTEC ACO4202 714 282 0828 As low as $15.95/mo jadtec.com Proposed green cemetery withdrawn from Orange planning process By Tina Richards The property owner seeking approvals to build a green cemetery (Kornerstone) just south of the Yorba dog park quietly withdrew his application to the City of Orange, July 18. The about-face followed 18 months of back and forth between the landowner and the Local Enforcement Agency (LEA). The LEA is a subset of CalRecycle, and is part of Orange County’s Health Agency. It is tasked to protect public health and safety, prevent public contact with waste landfill gas and leachate, and prevent landfill gas explosions. The property in question is a former dumpsite, closed in 1956. It is characterized by unstable ground that shifts and settles. The site also produces methane gas. Several years ago, a tract house built close to the landfill was condemned due to methane gas seepage. In a green cemetery, bodies are buried in relatively shallow graves (about three feet) without caskets or embalming fluid. The grounds tend not to be landscaped, but covered with white gravel to prevent them from being walked on or disturbed by maintenance crews. Neighborhood watch When nearby residents learned that it was slated to become a cemetery, they rallied. A neighborhood meeting attracted 75 homeowners, and a committee was formed to investigate every aspect of the proposed cemetery and its impact on their community. Their research covered everything from property values, to traffic, to insect activity on decomposing bodies, to characteristics of former landfills, to heat retention and the ever-present methane gas. They shared what they had learned at city council meetings, beginning in December 2021, and attended every meeting thereafter. And they contacted LEA. Kornerstone had proposed covering the landfill with a seven-foot layer (about 11,610 cubic yards) of imported dirt that would be the final resting place for some 3,339 bodies interred over the next 25 to 30 years. The weight of that additional ground cover, calculated by residents to be some 25,542,000 pounds, was only one of the red lights LEA signaled in three separate letters to Kornerstone dispatched between November 2021 and this past March. “Differential settlement remains the paramount concern at the former disposal site with the proposed land use as a cemetery,” LEA reported. “Factors that are critical to the differential settlement include: the added weight of the additional cover; the new buildings; the people/ vehicles there for the burials; the constant modification of the cover for each burial; the inability or plan to regrade, as needed. The site has a documented history of observed settlement.” Characteristically incompatible The agency noted that loose uncompacted soil at each burial site, infiltration of surface water, inadequate drainage and the decomposition of the bodies will contribute to differential settlement. That settlement, it said, will lead to ponding, disturbance and erosion of the cover. The cover, once in place, must remain protected and undisturbed, which seemed unlikely as the landfill cover would be excavated almost daily for burials. Any needed regrading or soil compacting would be hampered by the gravesites themselves. How would bodies be relocated? LEA acknowledged that a “clean closure” was likely the best option. Clean closure of a landfill is a costly undertaking wherein all waste, waste residuals and contaminated soils are dug out and relocated to a designated location. Failing that, LEA found the project to be “characteristi- cally incompatible” with state regulations and the law. Although LEA offered to “guide” the Kornerstone group through the requirements for a clean closure. The property owner’s attorney insisted, via letter, that the agency was “doing everything in its power to thwart a productive development of the property with unreasonable and ever-changing conditions.” The attorney further claimed that LEA’s denial was so draconian that it could be considered a governmental “taking” of the private property, depriving the owner of any economic benefit. LEA denied those accusations, reiterating its obligation to enforce standards set by the California Code. While Kornerstone had made some concessions and revisited its engineering plans, it was still a green cemetery built on top of a former disposal site. No getting around it Meanwhile, the City of Orange Planning Department had been processing the Kornerstone application. It got as far as the Design Review Committee (DRC), which held public hearings on the project in June and August. Residents appeared at both hearings, restating their opposition. The DRC ultimately recommended denial of the project based on its lack of landscaping, 12-foot high perimeter wall, lack of suitable screening and insensitivity to neighbors. Kornerstone was offered the opportunity to correct those defi- ciencies and return to the DRC for further review and approval. The property owner chose to accept the recommendation for denial and present the cemetery plan, as is, to the planning commission. It never made it to the planning commission. Stalled, apparently, by the LEA. Resident Sharon Galasso, one of the stalwarts who had attended every council meeting and kept the cemetery issue in front of coun- cilmembers, appeared again at the July 25 meeting. “I’m here with good news,” she told the council. “The OC Health Department’s Local Enforcement Agency has been steadfast in making sure our neighborhood and city stays safe, and in doing that, Kornerstone has withdrawn its plans.” The property owner, however, can reapply at a later date. Gonzalez named OUSD superintendent Ernest Gonzalez, who has served as Acting Superintendent of the Orange Unified School Dis- trict since March 2, was named to the job permanently, Aug. 17. The Board of Trustees approved his appointment in closed session by a 6-0-1 vote, with one trustee absent. Gonzalez, OUSD's first La- tino Superintendent, previously served the district as executive director and then assistant super- intendent, both in human resourc- es. Before that, he was principal of Orange High School for five years. He came to Orange Uni- fied after serving as an adminis- trator, teacher, activities director, and project coordinator in Los Angeles County. He holds an MA in Educational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University and a BA in Interdisciplinary Humani- ties and History from the Univer- sity of San Diego.