Contaminated Saugus Parcels Reduced, Developer Says

Developers of a planned housing project on the site of a former munitions factory said Monday that state environmental officials have reduced from 76 to eight the number of sites on the parcel classified as contaminated, which the company said shows that a cleanup is possible.

James Schultz, director of business development for Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp., which owns the 996 acres in Saugus, said the action by the state Environmental Protection Agency means the company can break ground on the 2,900-home project by 2001. The sites are contaminated by red phosphorus (used in the manufacturing of rat poison), pyrotechnic chemicals and solvents. Investigators also found 30-millimeter shells containing low levels of uranium.

In 1967, Whittaker bought the land from the Bermite Powder Co., which produced munitions and rocket fuel on the parcel south of Soledad Canyon Road from 1934 to 1987.

Also on Monday, Los Angeles County released a 1,267-page environmental impact report on Newhall Ranch, a 12,000-acre, 25,000-unit development planned near Valencia.

The county Regional Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors will conduct public hearings on the plan in coming months.

Local environmentalists have criticized the project as endangering the Santa Clara River.

Castaic Union School District officials also protested the possible loss of potential property tax revenues when the project’s developer, the Newhall Land & Farming Co., petitioned county education officials to include part of the development in the Newhall School District.