HUNTINGTON BEACH : City to Consider Site Cleanup, Project

A proposed development agreement for a longtime city problem--the old Ascon toxic dump--comes before the City Council today.

If the project agreement is approved by the City Council, NESI Development Group would be allowed to build up to 591 units of housing on the 40-acre site at Magnolia Street and Hamilton Avenue, near Edison High School. In return, NESI would clean up the site and remove all the toxic chemicals dumped there many years ago.

The Ascon site formerly was used as a dumping ground for petroleum sludge from the city’s once-thriving oil industry. State environmental officials have said the dumped waste contains toxic chemicals and must be cleaned up. The toxic chemicals include sulfuric acid and styrene.

NESI has pledged to remove all the wastes and to have the land clean and habitable before any construction starts. NESI officials have said that the cleanup probably will take three years and that no homes will be built on the site until late 1995.

The NESI plan calls for construction of 296 detached, single-family homes along the perimeter of the site. Such development would be compatible with the existing single-family homes in that area, NESI planners have said.

The western part of the site would be devoted to 295 units of multiple-family housing.

When the NESI proposal came before the city’s Planning Commission earlier this year, some residents of the Edison High area protested the building plans. They charged that too many new homes were being proposed and that this would increase traffic and noise. The Planning Commission, however, unanimously approved the NESI concept.

The city’s professional staff has recommended that the City Council also approve the NESI plan and grant the company a 15-year development agreement. Such an agreement is a contract that binds both city and the developer to certain conditions.

The development agreement, among other things, would require NESI to build about 60 units of housing on the site to be affordable for moderate-income families.