Do you smell oil? New construction unearths contaminated soil in SLO County town

Construction work on a new lot development on Grover Beach’s West Grand Avenue was the source of reports of fumes from nearby residents at the start of the new year.

Development is currently underway at 197 West Grand Ave. on a mixed-use project featuring 23 condominiums and commercial space by Coastal Community Builders, following the Grover Beach Planning Commission’s unanimous approval of the project at a Sept. 3 meeting.

Starting in the final weeks of December, grading began on the 1.03-acre project site, which is the former home of B.J.’s ATV Rentals.

The removal of 10 garage and small workshop-style buildings left the site bare but also exposed what appeared to be a black tar or oil-like substance, which was covered in tarps shortly after being unearthed.

Christopher Zaseris, owner of the Grover Station Grill restaurant across the street from the project site, said he first noticed a smell starting in the last week of December as the grading got underway.

“When the wind kicks up, which is normal in the afternoon this time of year around here, the smell kind of overwhelmed the patio,” Zaseris said. “You could smell the oil and you could see it, even with the tarps on it.”

The Tribune looked into the source of the fumes as part of its Reality Check series.

City: Soil contamination was expected in building process

Zaseris said the scent has “killed business” outdoors, enough for him to message the city about its source.

“They’re unearthing 43 years worth of stuff,” Zaseris said. “I don’t blame the city, I don’t blame (the developer), its just down there and it needs to be disposed and removed properly.”

Grover Beach community development director Megan Martin said while the scent was noticeable, the substances found in the soil were expected in the development process.

Martin said as required by the California Environmental Quality Act, the city performed a Phase 1 assessment of the soil at the project site due to the land’s history as an ATV rental, which likely exposed the soil to contact with oil and gas.

The results, which were included in the Sept. 3 staff report, found that the soil was contaminated to an extent that it required an additional Phase 2 assessment to define the extent of the contamination.

“It’s likely the prior fueling and mechanical operations of the previous ATV operation are the cause of the contaminated soils, but it’s really important that the general public understand encountering materials like this during construction is not uncommon,” Martin said. “This is not unique, especially given the site’s historical conditions, but also there’s the natural occurrence of tar balls in this area — Pismo Beach is really great example of that. If you dig in certain areas of of Pismo Beach, you’ll just have a natural occurrence of a tar ball in the area, and such findings are just routinely addressed as part of standard environmental procedures when projects are under construction.”

Martin said mitigating the contamination involves the extensive excavation around 2,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil, which will be filled by a new batch of 1,900 cubic yards of fill.

Soil removal activities are being supervised by qualified professionals from Universal Engineering Systems, and the contaminated materials will be transported to a certified disposal facility by next Friday, Martin said.

“This is a standard process,” Martin said. “They’re doing everything in compliance with their adopted mitigated negative declaration, as well as what was assumed as part of the scope of work that’s outlined in the staff report, as well as described in the environmental document.”