Grand Jury Urges Cleanup of Huntington Toxic Site

A 40-acre toxic site in Huntington Beach may pose a hazard to the surrounding community, needs to be cleaned up and requires more fencing to discourage trespassing, the Orange County Grand Jury reported Wednesday.

The site, known as the Ascon landfill, is across from Edison High School near Magnolia Street and Hamilton Avenue. Opened in 1924, it was used as a dumping ground for oil industry waste.

“The real danger lies in the three 25-foot-deep oil-tar lagoons and a now-covered styrene pit,” the report said.

The area has become a curiosity for neighborhood children and a campground for the homeless, grand jurors said, recommending that the county and city act aggressively to find a solution.

The report accused Huntington Beach officials of being uncooperative during the grand jury’s examination.

“Meetings with city officials in Huntington Beach have left the grand jury with feelings of frustration summed up by the reaction: ‘We’re being stonewalled,’ ” jurors wrote in their report.

A city spokesman denied the allegation and said officials also want to clean up the site.

“Obviously, the city is desirous and has been for many years of having the private property cleaned up,” said Richard Barnard, deputy city administrator. “We are aware of the issue. We’ve had citizens’ and council committees look into this and also had the property owners come in to discuss a solution.”

In 1992, the City Council approved an agreement to allow a developer to build about 500 homes on the site once the land is cleaned of toxic waste.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control took over as lead agency for cleanup efforts. Although permits were issued in 1991, nothing has been done.

The former landfill is “so hazardous,” the report said, that the state’s toxic substances department “asserts that there is ‘no safe way to remove the contents of those lagoons without jeopardizing the safety of the surrounding community--including Edison High School.’ ”

Negotiations between the property owner and the state are continuing. The city is hopeful that a cleanup plan will be reached in a few months, Barnard said.

The owner, Signal Mortgage Co. Inc., is linked to Signal Oil, which according to the report was one of the original users of the site. Company officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.