NORTH HOLLYWOOD : State Orders Removal of 24,000 Tires at Site

A North Hollywood property owner had his land added to the state Integrated Waste Management Board’s list of environmentally sensitive sites to be cleaned up with financial assistance after a man to whom he leased the lot collected 24,000 tires on the property.

The lot at 6127 Lankershim Blvd. was added to the list with three other properties in Shasta, Del Norte and Tehama counties, said Pat Macht, spokeswoman for the board. About $1 million is earmarked for cleanup of the four sites.

The North Hollywood property was brought to the attention of the board by owner G. Eddie Atoian of Calabasas after his lessee, Garnett Tolen, violated an agreement that only 300 tires could be stored there at a time, Macht said. Tolen was evicted after he accumulated 24,000 tires on the property, Macht said.

He was ordered Feb. 28 to remove a third of the tires by Wednesday. If he doesn’t, the board will pay to have them removed and collect reimbursement from Tolen, Macht said.

“He has begun to start moving some of the tires, but he still must meet the requirement by the deadline,” said Macht, who added that he has an April 15 deadline for another third of the pile, and a May 15 deadline for the last third.

The program is designed to help clean up disposal sites where the responsible party cannot be identified or is unable or unwilling to pay, Macht said.

Macht said property owners are usually targeted in the program, but “this was an unusual situation because the owner has been attempting to get the pile cleaned up.”