OXNARD : Developer Agrees to Pay for Soil Testing

Following weeks of pressure from county health officials, a developer who donated a park site to the city of Oxnard has agreed to pay for extensive soil testing to determine the extent of gasoline contamination on the site.

Preliminary tests taken in August showed gasoline from a leaking underground tank had contaminated a three-acre park site on Bevra Avenue and Spyglass Terrace.

Strathmore Homes of Oxnard, which donated the land in exchange for approval to build about 460 houses around the River Ridge Golf Course, had previously rejected responsibility for further testing and cleanup.

Preliminary tests showed abnormally high levels of lead and xylene in the soil. County officials, however, said further tests are needed to determine the extent of the contamination, which they say could pose a threat to underground drinking water.

Doug Beach, manager of the county Environmental Health Department’s Underground Tanks Program, said Strathmore Homes submitted a document Friday outlining a plan for further testing.

He said the drilling of test wells to determine how far the contamination has spread should begin within two week, but he said he is not sure when a cleanup plan would be submitted.

“We haven’t gotten to the point of discussing cleanup,” Beach said.

Richard McNish, owner of Strathmore Homes, was not available for comment.

Beach and his office have repeatedly asked Strathmore to conduct more thorough studies of the soil. He said he is not sure what convinced Strathmore officials to agree to the county’s requests.

Oxnard Assistant City Manager John Tooker, who has been working to find a resolution with Strathmore officials, said he has had several telephone conversations with McNish in the past week.

Tooker said he hasn’t seen the testing plan but believes the matter is not far from being resolved.