STAFF REPORT
City of Lancaster
HA CC 3
4/8/2025
TN
Date: April 8, 2025
To: Chairman Parris and Housing Authority Members
From: Patti Garibay, Director - Community Development
Christopher Aune, Housing Manager
Subject: Initial Cost Recovery Program from Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board for HNR-3
Recommendations:
1. Approve the Initial Cost Recovery Program from Lahontan Water Quality Control Board (LRWQCB) (Exhibit A).
2. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to finalize and execute all documents related to the Initial Cost Recovery Program.
G.C. Section 84308: No
Fiscal Impact:
There is no impact to the General Fund. All invoices will be paid from the Low Mod Income Housing Asset Fund (LMIHAF) with existing budget in 31422000.5710. LRWQCB estimates that they will need sixty (60) hours to complete their initial work at a cost of $233 per hour. City staff will track the budget and invoices for this project closely.
Background:
The Housing Authority owns Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization-3 (HNR-3), which consists of twenty (20) parcels of land totaling approximately 5.7 acres on the southwest corner of West Avenue I and Sierra Highway in a residential/commercial area of Lancaster. Prior to the City’s acquisition, HNR-3 was developed with residences, retail businesses, gas stations, and automobile repair facilities. All the previous structures were demolished approximately between 2003 and 2011. HNR-3 is currently vacant and unpaved.
Soil and soil vapor sampling conducted between 2021 and 2024 at HN-3 identified subsurface impacts in soil, soil vapor, and groundwater. The predominant chemical of concern (COC) is 2 0
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perchloroethylene (PCE); which was identified primarily in the Western portion of the Subject Property. Based on the results of offsite soil vapor samples, Waterstone Environmental Inc. (Waterstone) conducted off-site indoor air sampling in residential properties to the south and commercial properties to the north to evaluate the potential for vapor intrusion, but no PCE was identified in any of the indoor air samples.
Waterstone and City staff met with LRWQCB on December 2, 2024, to discuss the Subject Property’s history and findings to date. On December 27, 2024, the LRWQCB sent the City an Initial Cost Recovery Program letter.
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (California Water Code), section 13304, allows the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Lahontan Region (Water Board), to recover reasonable expenses from responsible parties to oversee cleanup and abatement of discharges that have adversely affected waters of the State. A cost recovery account will be established for the HNR-3 project, and through that account is where the Regional Water Board will charge labor costs for regulatory oversight associated with cleanup efforts at the site. LRWQCB has determined based on-site characterization investigations that there are impacts to the subsurface and groundwater that warrant the need for additional investigations and cleanup of solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons.
The LRWQCB is required to provide the City of Lancaster annually with the following information:
1. A detailed estimate of the work to be performed or services to be provided, including a statement of the expected outcome of that work, based upon data available to the agency at the time;
2. The billing rates for all individuals and classes of employees expected to engage in the work or services; and
3. An estimate of all expected charges to be billed to the responsible party by the agency.
Estimate of Work to be Performed
Water Board staff estimates that the following work will be performed during state fiscal year 2024/2025 (July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025):
1. Conduct agency internal communications such as memos, meetings, etc.;
2. Review existing previously submitted reports (e.g., work plans, site assessments, and monitoring reports);
3. Review and comment on reports (e.g., work plans, site investigations; make recommendations /requests for revising reports;
4. Attend meetings with discharger (s), their representatives, consultants, and other interested parties; and
5. Conduct in person site inspection(s).
The Initial Cost Recovery Program is set up so that reasonable expenses incurred by governmental agencies such as the Regional Water Boards, in overseeing water quality cleanup matters, can be recovered from the discharger/responsible party.
City Staff will meet with the City Attorney regularly to monitor progress and invoices.
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Attachment:
Exhibit A – Initial Cost Recovery Program