Pacific City stirs fears of cancer

Jenny Marder

A project that would stretch across three city blocks was denounced

Tuesday night by a handful of residents who fear that grading and

construction will place their children, family members and neighbors

in danger of breathing toxic fumes.

The latest plans for Pacific City, a 31-acre project that would

include a luxury resort, 516 residential townhouses, upscale

shopping, restaurants and office space, were outlined by city

planners at a study session on Tuesday.

Cheri-Jan Olson, whose 5-year-old son, Trent Olson, died in June

from a rare, inoperable brain-stem tumor, spoke out against the

development.

“I want to make sure that what happened to my child and others

like him doesn’t happen to another family,” Olson said.

She and other parents want to know what caused Trent’s death and

the death of several other Huntington Beach children, who have all

been diagnosed with similar brain tumors over the past three years.

“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Olson said.

Downtown Huntington Beach resident Lois Ivanoff added that grading

work on the Pacific City site last week triggered a foul smell and

gave her a painful headache. Tearfully, Ivanoff said she was afraid

that her children were in danger of inhaling contaminants while

playing in the yard.

“I can not protect them from toxins that may be coming from

outside and [from] getting cancer,” Ivanoff said.

The 31-acre site used to house about 20 oil wells that have since

been removed, said Michael Gagnet, vice president for developer Makar

Properties.

Extensive cleanup has been done on the property, but certain

sections still test positive for oily soil. The Fire Department has

continued soil, groundwater and air-quality testing and is working to

remove the contaminated soil.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure that the

residents of Huntington Beach are not affected by remediation efforts

directly on the site,” Gagnet said. “Our concerns are the same

concerns of the citizens, that this site is clean.”

Gagnet said he welcomes calls from concerned residents.

“We have an open-door policy and are willing to talk to anybody,

anytime, anywhere to discuss issues at this site,” he said.

Other concerns raised at the meeting were noise and traffic.

Local environmentalist Mark Bixby, spokesman for the activist

group Neighbors for Wintersburg Restoration, said that the site has

shown signs that it was once a wetland and it should be preserved as

such.

“There is plenty of wetland vegetation still present on this

property,” Bixby said. “I believe this site merits further

monitoring.”

Bixby formed the activist group to fight the development of the

proposed Parkside Estates projects, which would build 171 new homes

on Graham Avenue, south of Kenilworth Drive.

Pacific City’s residential district would have two, three- and

four-story condominiums, and the retail section would offer specialty

food outlets, outdoor dining, a day spa, a yoga center and a live

entertainment venue.

The residential and commercial portions will include two levels of

subterranean parking.

Planners predict that the project’s environmental report will be

released next week. The project is scheduled to go to the Planning

Commission in February 2004.