Project Delayed by Removal of Contaminated Soil : Filling In of Canyon in Palisades About to Start

Nearly four years after the project was proposed and a year after it received approval from the California Coastal Commission, Los Angeles officials are ready to begin filling in a Pacific Palisades canyon in an effort to halt landslides.

When the controversial and ambitious Potrero Canyon project is complete, the canyon will be filled with 1 million cubic yards of dirt, 75 feet high in some places, and a new park with nature trails will be built atop the fill.

Work on the project began in April but ran into a snag: While demolishing a portion of a motel and former gas station at the base of the canyon, contractors discovered that gasoline had leaked from underground tanks, contaminating the soil.

Removing the tainted soil cost the city at least $500,000, as well as the two-month delay, said Kathleen Chan, who is managing the project for the city Department of Recreation and Parks.

“They (the tanks) were perforated and had leaked residue into the soil and all the way to the bedrock,” Chan said. “They’ve been in there for a million years, so we had to remove the contaminated soil and that was extremely costly.”

The demolition work has also been completed and contractors expect to begin grading the canyon at the end of this month, Chan said. The first phase of the project calls for putting 10 to 12 feet of fill into the canyon and installing a storm drain that will carry rainwater to Will Rogers State Beach.

This week, the Los Angeles City Council’s Finance and Revenue Committee approved a request to appropriate $1.13 million for the $7-million project, which the city has been financing in stages.

Since 1933, about a dozen houses built along the cliffs have slid into Potrero Canyon, which is about 3,500 feet long, 400 feet wide and 265 feet deep. Several homes have been damaged by landslides and some have been condemned. In the last four years, the city has paid about $8 million to settle lawsuits by purchasing 22 homes along the canyon rim, according to Deputy City Atty. Leslie R. Pinchuk.

Some of the homes have been torn down and some are being rented.

Pinchuk has been saying for several years that the city should proceed quickly with the Potrero Canyon project to stave off future lawsuits. “In the long run, it’s going to be a lot less expensive to do it this way than having a liability out there,” he said.