Factory Land into Housing Development: Hayward, CA

Cleanup of under the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004 (CLRRA), also known as the “Brownfields” Cleanup Act. CLRRA provides certain immunities from liability for response costs or damage claims to qualified innocent landowners, bona fide purchasers or contiguous property owners.

WEST conducted the investigations, developed the cleanup plan and worked with the property owner and Eden Housing, to reclaim the site of a former pickle factory for affordable housing. The 3.5-acre site, which is the was used historically for agricultural purposes until the 1950s when it was converted for use as a food processing facility. Kruger Foods, Inc. processed cucumbers into pickles on the Site until 2004. La Vista, LLC purchased the property in 2005.

DTSC entered into the agreement with La Vista, LLC to address contamination at the former Kruger Food, Inc.’s pickle manufacturing plant located at 22958 Saklan Road in Hayward. Under this agreement, WEST investigated the contamination of the property and developed a plan clean up all past hazardous material releases to ensure that the property is safe for residential use. The work was conducted under DTSC oversight. After the environmental cleanup activities were completed, the property was then developed in conjunction with Eden Housing into affordable housing.

The cleanup plan for the Site was approved by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on June 6, 2006 and implemented between June 26, 2006 and July 14, 2006. The DTSC issued a Certification of Completion on August 25, 2006. The work included excavation and offsite disposal of approximately of soil containing petroleum hydrocarbons; tetrachloroethene (PCE) and 1,4-dioxane; and abandonment of an onsite water supply well.

WEST also provided oversight of the community relations and permit applications, prepared work notification fact sheets, developed and provided oversight of the response actions and implemented a Sampling and Analysis Plan. WEST also assisted with the recording of the Land Use Covenant (LUC), which was required due to an offsite source of PCE that migrated beneath the site. An Operations, Maintenance and Monitoring Plan (OM&M Plan) and Operations and Maintenance Agreement (OMA) were prepared to detail the post-closure inspection, maintenance, reporting and record keeping procedures for continued groundwater monitoring. During July 2010, cessation of groundwater monitoring was approved and the site monitoring wells were abandoned.