City-Navy Land Swap ‘on Hold’ at Chollas Lake

A Navy official said Monday that a proposed deal to build Navy housing on city-owned land near Chollas Lake is in jeopardy unless the Navy can be assured that the area, which contains toxic incinerator ash, is safe.

“I’m not anticipating that site being ready for Navy housing for two to four years,” said Cmdr. Douglas E. Mann, the officer in charge of construction in San Diego.

The Navy will only build on the land, about 40 acres in a canyon west of Chollas Lake, if it receives a bill of health from a regulatory agency, Mann said.

Under a complex land swap announced two years ago, the city was to swap the land to the Navy in exchange for several parcels of Navy land.

Discovery of Dioxin Clouds Deal

However, the discovery of traces of dioxin on proposed parkland adjoining the Navy housing site, as well as toxic levels of lead in both areas, has placed the entire deal in doubt.

“We’re letting the city take on the responsibility for the whole 80 acres,” Mann said. As part of the deal, the city was to develop a 46-acre parcel east of the Navy’s housing site into a park.

The Navy has informally requested that it be reimbursed for the $55,000 it has already spent on the consultant’s study that first pointed out the hazardous level of lead contamination at the site, Mann said. “We have told (the city) what it cost us and we would like them to pay for it,” he said.

The swap is “on hold” until the safety of the land can be resolved, Mann added. The Navy has asked the city to provide an alternate site for Navy housing, but city officials say there is no other available land, he said.

“We will not piecemeal the rest of the trade,” Mann said.

The swap, first announced in August, 1986, after three years of negotiations, was to give the city a park and a trash conversion site near Miramar Naval Air Station, while the Navy would get the Chollas land for needed housing. Construction of 300 housing units was to begin there this year.

Under the agreement, the Navy would also be allowed to extend the Miramar base boundaries by 120 acres to the west and 160 acres to the southeast.

The city would get a 44-acre sports complex near Miramar, consisting of 13 ball fields for children’s soccer, softball and baseball teams; 43 acres south of California 52 for a trash-to-energy project, and a no-cost lease for 75 acres near Miramar to develop police and fire academies and a pistol range.

Cleanup Cost Could Be $20 Million

As for the contaminated site, city officials estimate that it could cost as much as $20 million to excavate the entire 80-acre area and haul the tainted ash away.

A less costly solution of “capping” the areas of tainted ash with a layer of dirt would prevent the ash from becoming airborne, but might be unacceptable to the Navy.

“If it’s capped in place, there may not enough of the site left for housing, so we may not want it,” Mann said.

Meanwhile, city and county officials met Monday with representatives of a consulting firm that last week reported the discovery of traces of dioxin in the area. The firm agreed to clarify language in its report to indicate that there is a “potential” for tainted dust to become airborne and migrate from the area, but that the potential is quite low, said William Sterling, deputy director of the Refuse Disposal Division of the city’s Waste Management Department.

“We’re going to continue to patrol the site and make sure people are kept out of there,” Sterling said. “We don’t feel there’s any major concern out there.”

No decision has been reached on how to decontaminate the site, Sterling said, but any solution will probably include a combination of excavation and capping.