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Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - January 4, 1993 Page - 7 - <br /> NEW BUSINESS (continued) <br /> Mike Bakaldin said there appears to be some concern that the <br /> Resolutions and Ordinance are new regulations. He said this process is <br /> similar to that used with the Haz Mat Program. He said the City did <br /> not start the Haz Mat Program until it had adopted State and Federal <br /> laws which were already in existence and is not adopting any new laws <br /> now. He said these actions give the City the ability to act as a go- <br /> between for the property owner and the State. He said he will take the <br /> property owners through the process so they can get a sign-off on their <br /> properties after contamination is cleared up. He said, in many cases, <br /> once an underground tank is removed the owners find they have a <br /> problem; and 50% of the time it can be dealt with on the same day. He <br /> said, currently, when there is a problem, the City must turn it over to <br /> the County, which has a major backlog and cannot respond immediately. <br /> He said these Resolutions and Ordinance will give the City the <br /> authority to proceed. <br /> He said the first Resolution acknowledges that there are 200 known <br /> contaminated sites and that the County has already started on 98 of <br /> those sites and will follow them through to completion. He said the <br /> City will handle the remaining sites and help the property owners <br /> through the process. <br /> He said the second Resolution is an Agreement with the Regional Water <br /> Quality Control Board which makes the City the official agent for the <br /> Board with authority to recommend case closures. He said probably 25% <br /> of the sites do not belong on the list, and this will allow the City to <br /> remove them so that the property owners may proceed. He said the <br /> Ordinance strengthens the City's ability to do the work it has to do <br /> and clarifies that the City has the authority to order a study if <br /> property appears to contain contamination. <br /> John Sullivan, 17760 Sweet Briar Place, Castro 'Valley, said he feels <br /> these measures will bring hazardous materials under local control , but <br /> he said there are a few inadequacies. He spoke regarding third-party <br /> liability and discussed a case where oil from a gas station had leaked <br /> onto the adjacent apartment property. He said the apartment property <br /> owners talked to the State Water Control Board and were told to get <br /> together with the oil company and let the oil company arrange for <br /> testing, or to arrange for testing on their own. He said the property <br /> owner agreed to have the oil company do the drilling, but the oil <br /> company would not acknowledge responsibility for clean up. He said <br /> there is no legal mechanism that can be employed to force the <br /> responsible property owner, in this case the gas company, to do the <br /> work. He said this is a gross inequity and should be addressed. <br /> Mr. Bakaldin agreed there is an issue of third-party liability. He <br /> said, in general , the third party must pursue the matter. He said <br /> first a case has to be made that the contamination is actually coming <br /> from an adjacent property and, if that is so, the case may need to go <br /> to court. <br />