April 16 Community Meeting

The transcript for the video "Longfellow Magnet School Draft Removal Action Workplan (RAW) - Public Meeting - April 16, 2026" is provided below. Please note that this is an automated transcript and may contain some inaccuracies.

[0:00] Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us today.
[0:07] Thank you for attending today public meeting for the proposed draft of the remedial action board fund also known as the Pasadena schools back elementary and elementary.
[0:32] My name is Nina John and I serve as a public participation specialist in the office of environmental equity for the department of toxic substances control also known as DTSC.
[0:48] We're excited to be here this evening and most importantly we want to hear from you.
[1:01] At this time, we ask that those joining us online select their preferred language so that you'll be able to fully participate in today's meeting.
[1:13] If you're joining us on computer, we ask that you select the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. You will see the English and Spanish. Please select your language.
[1:33] Now, for those joining us from your mobile phones, please look at the three dots on the bottom. Click in the next section. Sorry, click in the nextation button and select Spanish.
[3:09] Sorry about that. Please give us a minute so we can figure out this technical issue.
[3:42] Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
[3:47] Um, for those joining us from your phones, please look at the three dots at the bottom. Click. And in the next screen, you'll find the interpretation button and select Spanish.
[3:59] For those of us joining online, please follow the link to obtain a copy of the presentation in Spanish.
[4:12] For those joining us in person, please take a moment and look around for the closest exit signs in case of emergencies.
[4:23] The restrooms are in the lobby and to the right. Please know that we are hosting this meeting from different locations. We request that you bear with us if there's a lag time or other technical issues. We sincerely appreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation in making this a successful meeting. Thank you to PUSD for providing Spanish and ASL interpreters tonight.
[4:59] At this time, I'd like to go over our meeting agreement reminders.
[5:04] Please be mindful of the space you're taking of and give others the opportunity to express themselves as well by participating in this meeting.
[5:14] This meeting is being recorded to ensure that all meeting participants receive the same information and especially those joining receiving interpretation.
[5:26] Please speak clearly and at an even pace.
[5:30] Those participating online will be able to ask questions through the Q&A feature. We will try our best to answer your questions tonight.
[5:44] At this time, I'd like to take a moment to introduce to you Ben Stanfeld, division chief of our site mitigation and restoration program. He will be sharing some opener remarks this evening.
[6:02] Thanks and thank you everyone for coming out and joining us and this public meeting around the school cleanups of contaminated soil at Longfellow Magnet School, San Rafll Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School. My name is Ben Stanfel. I'm the Southern California Division Chief for DTSC and I'm going to walk through our agenda and introduce you to the DTSC team.
[6:31] Uh first tonight, we're going to go over DTSC's role in this cleanup. We're also going to talk about the lead and arsenic that were found at the three schools during the sampling after the fires. and we're going to talk through Pasadena Unified School District's plan to remove this contaminated soil from those three schools. Again, Longfellow Magnet, San Rabbel Elementary, and Franklin Elementary.
[7:00] Finally, we're going to make sure that you have the contact information for DTSC's project manager and a link to the site where information on these projects is going to be posted on DTSC's Envir Store website. Finally, we will have time to take some questions and Anita will come back at the end of the presentation to walk through how to submit questions both in the room and online.
[7:25] For the DTSC folks in the room, uh when I say your name, please uh stand up and wave. Uh I've already introduced myself. We also have Shahir Bad, our schools program branch chief. Owlam Sharif, the unit chief in charge of these Pasadena schools, and Shillon Kate Zen, the project manager for all of our school cleanups in Pasadena Unified School District.
[7:54] Uh, finally, in the room tonight, they'll be up on the stage for questions. We have Maya Bachmann, our geologist, and Dr. Brian Estray, our toxicologist, working on this project for DTSC. And I've already introduced Anita now to talk a little bit more about DPSC's role across the state and in this cleanup these cleanup projects. I'd like to turn it over to Shahir Hadad.
[8:20] Yes. Good evening again. I'm Shahir Hadad, the branch chief in the green program in in the department office. Kate is going to give you details about what we're doing at the three Pasadena schools and what we plan to do in the coming months.
[8:40] But before we do that, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to briefly talk about who we are and what we do in at DTSC and within the school's program.
[8:53] The Department of Toxic Substances Control or DDSC is one of the agencies under California Environmental Protection Agency. There are other agencies and boards under California EBA.
[10:58] what contaminants are there at what depth, what concentration. We want to look at the horizontal and vertical extent of contamination. Once we have a good understanding about the boundary of contamination, then we go to the next step cleanup. We start with the draft cleanup plan to address the contamination. The cleanup plan starts as a draft then and then it goes out for public review and comment and that's the stage we are we are in at the Pasadena schools.
[11:31] That's to a large extent what we do within the schools program and on and a lot of other projects.
[11:38] And with that I'm going to turn it over to Kate to give you more details about the three projects the subject of our meeting today.
[11:52] Thank you. Here. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Jalan Ka. I am the project manager with CTSC overseeing the school sites associated with Pasadena Unified School District.
[12:07] Today I'll be discussing three schools that are moving through our removal action work plan procedures. I will cover the set background environmental investigations conducted and the proposed removal actions. The three schools are long fellow Magnus School, Saraf Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School.
[12:33] First I will talk about the set background. On January 7th, 2025, the Ethon fire has been burning the San Gabriel Mountain and affecting the residential and commercial areas of Aladina and Pasadena.
[12:49] Multiple schools within Pasadena Unified School District or PUSD were affected.
[12:57] PC perform soil testing after the fire to evaluate potential contamination from the fire.
[13:06] Soil testing address fire related and other environmental conditions including oral consistent which may be present on site.
[13:17] Soil testing focused on laws, planter baths, place spaces and historical structures.
[13:28] Let me talk about environmental investigations conducted for the three schools. This was included in the preliminary environmental assessment or PA.
[13:40] The objective of PA is to determine if hazardous chemicals including fire related are present near surface soil in outside areas throughout the campus.
[13:54] In the PA it is found that arsenic and L is shallow soil concentration succeeding clean up.
[14:05] What are arsenic and L?
[14:08] Arsenic is a natural temporary metal found in the environment and that may be from fire but also from landbased pin in all buildings.
[14:20] Exposure to high levels with over a long time of period may be harmful to the public.
[14:27] In the PA, it is recommended that removal and offset disposal of arsenic and black impacted the soil and replacement of the impacted soil with CTAC clean soil.
[14:44] In addition, it is also recommended
[17:03] upwind and downwind direction to monitor dust concentrations at the site.
[17:10] Dust will be controlled by screening water to working areas as necessary.
[17:17] Our earth's moving activities will stop if does the monitoring action levels exceed 25 microgram per kilometer which is south coast air quality management district limit or it does if wind speed 1625 miles per hour.
[17:40] Traffic control now will be customized for each school.
[17:49] Now we'll cover overall investigation and clean up process for three schools. I like to walk through each school individually.
[17:59] Let's start with the first one. Longfellow magnet school.
[18:04] This school is located at 1065 East Washington Boulevard in the city of Pasadena with approximately 7 acres.
[18:14] The site is developed as an active case through grade five at Montre.
[18:20] This is the site map of long fellow. The blue online shows the set boundary.
[18:27] The site is found by east real grand street and residential property to the north. Residential property and marista avenue to the east. is the Washington Boulevard to the south and north Catalina Avenue to the west.
[18:49] Here is a more detailed segment for the school.
[18:53] The purple dash line represents the footprint of historical structures.
[19:00] The green dots indicate so sampling locations where results were below pin level while the orange triangles indicate sampling locations where results were above clean.
[19:17] The yellow shading highlights the area of impacted the soil.
[19:22] Lad is the only contaminate of concern at long fellow.
[19:27] It is present in shadow soil in two main areas.
[19:33] Area one includes the front lawn on the south side of the main school building extending down to 3 ft below ground surface with an estimated volume of approximately 1,500 cubic yards.
[19:51] Area 2 covers the landscape area on the eastern portion of the site. extending down to 2 ft below ground surface with an estimated volume of about 175 cubic yards.
[20:07] The total estimated volume of the lead impacted the soil across the site is approximately 1,600 cubic yards.
[20:17] Based on this amount of the volume approximately 122 truckloads of the soil will be transported offsite.
[20:30] Here is the proposed the traffic route of long fellow. Trucks will enter the school from east Washington delivered at the south side and exit on the east real grand history on the north side.
[20:50] Next I will move on to the San Rafael Elementary School.
[20:55] The site is located at 1090 Nail Road in city of Pasadena with approximately 3.2 acres.
[21:04] The site is developed as an active K through grade five elementary school.
[21:11] This is the S map of Sarafel. Blue outlines showing the set boundary.
[21:18] The site is bound by Mist Road to the north, San Miguel road to the east, Hamosa road to the south, and residential properties to the west.
[21:35] This is the set map with the detailed information. The green dots and orange triangles represent the same simple caps as shown earlier.
[21:45] The yellow shading highlights impacted areas.
[21:50] Lab is present in shallow soil in three areas.
[21:55] The planter in the north, landscape area in the northeast and near building corner which identified as area 1 L, 2 L and 3 L extending down to 2 ft below ground surface with an estimated volume of approximately 75 cubic yards.
[22:20] Arsenic is present in shallow soil in two areas. the entire playfield in the southwest of the site and a walkway near classroom which identified as area 1A and 2A extending down to 3 ft below ground surface with an estimated volume of approximately 1,800 cubic yards.
[22:48] The total estimated volume of the impacted soil is approximately 1,900 cubic yards.
[22:57] Based on this amount of the volume approximately 136 truckloads of the soil will be transported offsite.
[23:09] Here is the proposed traffic route of Sarafel. Trucks will enter and exit the site from San Miguel road along the northeast side or Hamosa road along the south side.
[23:29] Okay, let's move to the last school site, Franklin Elementary School. The school is located at 527 Lua Street in Aladina with approximately 5.6 6 acres.
[23:44] Nine structures were previously included at the campus.
[23:49] One of them was burned by the Ethan fire and demolished and removed from the site by US Army Corp of Engineering.
[23:58] This campus was closed in 2023 and remain closed and then used since even fire but plan to be reused starting August 2026.
[24:13] This is the general set map with blue outline showing the set boundary.
[24:19] The site is found by residential property and water facility to the north. West Harris Street, a library, a church, residential property and Lincoln Avenue to the east. Ventura Street to the south and the residential property to the west.
[24:44] This map show more details of the Franklin Island.
[24:49] The quick shading shows the burned out structure area.
[24:54] In January 2026, PUSD submitted a technical memo which demonstrated the soil within the burndown area was not contaminated and requested concurrence to begin the earth's work and construction in the non-contaminated area.
[25:16] Arsenic and lead were found in shadow soil adjacent to the two western structures at concentrations above clean up goal which are highlighted as yellow shading in the setback.
[25:33] The impacted area requires extation and offset disposal of approximately 200 cubic yards of impacted soil from the upper 2 ft of the site.
[25:48] Based on this amount of the volume approximately 15 truckloads of the soil will be transported offsite.
[26:00] This is the proposed traffic route of Franklin. Trucks will enter and exit the site from the venture street side of the campus.
[26:14] In early February 2026, DTSC distributed community surveys and receive a great deal of valuable feedback. I would like to thank everyone for your participation and engagement. I will take one to two minutes to highlight the major concern that were raised through the community survey responses.
[26:38] The first one, the risk of the high level of lead and arsenic.
[26:44] Exposure to lab and or arsenic above the regulatory guidelines may pose risk to the students and staff.
[26:54] PTSC focused on remediation on school site and is not involved with any residential or commercial areas nearby.
[27:06] Next one, trees protection. Attempts will be made to save as much as possible. However, if there is contamination under a tree or red at tree root, some trees may not be safe in order to remove contamination. PTS understands the final landscaping will be as close as possible to prior to excavation.
[27:33] Next one is for long fellow contamination below concrete. It is unlikely contamination would go through the hard cover such as asphalt or concrete. Areas that were more likely to be impacted were tested.
[27:53] The material backfield. The imported the soil source is to be determined. However, the imported the soil will be sampled and profiled before back fielding. DTSC will review and approve the imported soil source that is per the clean field advisory of DTSC.
[28:19] Next one for SR. The playground is restricted with caution tape and would like to know the cleanup timeline. DTC understands the playground has been restricted for a while. The POSD decided to close the playground after sampling results showing the arsonic detection. DTRC was not involved with the playground closure. The cleanup work is scheduled for this summer.
[28:51] Next one for Franklin construction area of the burned out structure. At a construction area, soil sampling locations were analyzed and detected below the regulatory guidelines and the school is scheduled to reopen in August 2026. This is all for the ontime reopening.
[29:14] Next one, whether the inside of the classroom is safe for students, staff and family. This is outside the scope of the work of DTAC. Shahir mentioned that before. The last one disposal of contaminated soil. The soil will be classified as either hazardous or non-hazardous waste and based on that classification the impacted soil will be transported to the appropriate disposal facilities.
[29:50] Okay, let's talk about the next step. After this public meeting, at the end of comment period, CTIC will respondse to public comments. Removal action work plan will be revised or finalized. Once the removal action work is finalized and approved, the fuel work can be implemented.
[30:19] The field work is unicated to conduct during the summer of 2026.
[30:25] Working hours are limited to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. That applies to three schools.
[30:34] 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. That applies to Longfellow and Safel and 7:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. on Saturday. That applies to Franklin only.
[30:49] No construction operations on Sunday or federal holidays.
[30:55] After the removal action plan is implemented, a removal action temperature report will be submitted to DTC for approval.
[31:06] Our goal is to ensure the students can go back to a safe campus by August 2026.
[31:14] All right, thank you everyone. I will hand it over to Anita to go over the public comment period.
[32:05] Thank you, Kate. Sorry about that. Okay, so the public comment period has started already. It started April 3rd to May 4th. The last day to submit your comment is May 4th.
[32:22] Let me go over the ways you can submit your comments. You can submit your comments via email or mail to Kate at the address listed above.
[32:33] You can also sub, as a reminder, you may also view project information on DPSC's database called virus store. Go to the website, type in your school's name, go to the involvement tab, and then you can find the information for your school.
[32:56] You may also go to the local libraries which have the draft raws and supporting documents. And you may also contact Kate or myself directly via email.
[33:11] We also have comment cards in the lobby if you'd like to fill them out and or take it home and fill out and mail it back to us. We also will be uh receiving those as well. We'll just make sure that you get it back to us before May 4th.
[33:34] So now we're going to enter into the question and answer sessions of the meeting.
[33:41] Please see the instructions on how to ask your questions via online. For computers, go ahead and just answer it in the um Slido chat. And the same thing for if you're joining us via your mobile phone. We will do our best to respond to your questions in the order we receive them.
[34:14] Okay. At this time, we'd like to invite anybody that has a question to come um to raise their hand and someone will with a microphone will
[34:39] now
[34:48] question is a testing question. Did you test this on grand school and in particular along the south side of the school side? Is that also assessed? Is it kind of busy without
[35:38] in the graph? city. Um, and you can see here that
[36:03] property of all except for
[36:16] down very difficult to navigate.
[36:25] So very poor shape. It's not very easily. There was a signal right at the corner on the blue bank. So it's that area just beware is that you actually have to think about because there's also speed bumps on the roads. It's actually not so far and on traffic to see how it be.
[37:16] Yeah. And some of those details are are beyond what you know DPSC would dictate, but I know Passy and the Unified is looking at that and you know working with their contractors to minimize the disruption of the neighborhoods. So we just ask that they share that information with us so that we can receive that feedback.
[37:40] Right. And as this work gets closer to to happening in the summer. Uh there will be a public notice that gets posted that that has more of the details of you know the work itself being done. uh DTSC has to approve the overall plan first of you know yes this is the contaminated soil that's going to be removed um a as it's closer to the work actually happening there'll be more information on what exactly that's going to look like yeah from your neighborhood
[38:12] and then my last question is around deadline The work period between 14 is hard deadline work the soil restoration work done before you know passion.
[38:50] You know what DTSC is working toward and I know what Pastina Unified is also working toward is, you know, getting these areas done before school starts for the next school year. Um, anyone who's done some work in their backyard, right, right, knows that what you think is going to take 3 hours ends up taking 6 hours and an extra trip to Home Depot. So, we can't necessarily make a guarantee at at this point of when it will be done, but you know, everyone on the DTSC side and I know on the Pasadena Unified is getting all of the contaminated soil removal done over the summer when children aren't present because that's what it has to be and getting the schools as complete as they can, as prepped as they can prior to the school starting the next school year.
[39:42] responsibility restoration work.
[39:52] Yeah. Pasadena Unified School District is is doing the the restoration work and has the final say as to what it's going to look like. you know, DTSC's main goal is that all contamination, all lead and arsenic is removed because we don't want children exposed to that. If you have thoughts or questions about some of that restoration work, uh, reach out to communications at puscus. That's communications with an s at puscus. That's an email address they've set up to uh receive and respond to some of the other questions that are outside of the scope of what DTSC looks like.
[40:38] Thank you.
[40:53] um my friends at home. Oh, I know we had issues in the beginning where we weren't able to where the mics weren't coming through. It seemed like people that we had listening to the Zoom could hear it, but we'll we'll see if Yeah, we we'll see what we can do for the I'm sorry for the technical difficulties. Um maybe
[41:36] I also understand very important arguably in this product and how it's been incredibly challenging to get information
[41:55] um with which is a truck that we're talking about plus radio playground in the same conversation with two other schools that have uh findings and I would say look what they are. So can you talk a little bit about why schools were put together?
[42:25] Um but you just talk a little bit about what
[42:32] because it's really good with respect to all the findings and the actual metal that was found and it's proximity multiple times a day for six years.
[42:47] No, I I I think that's absolutely fair and a lot of lubing lumping these three schools together for the public meeting is around scheduling and around you know minimizing costs to Paxton unified as much as we can as we're doing this work. Um there is a big push to know these samples were collected after the fires and in response to the fires and when we see arsenic or lead in soil you know DTSC and Pasadena Unified say hey we need to clean that up we need to get rid of it we need to get this off off the property and I know Pasadena Unifi has been working on a number of their campuses across the grade as a result of the sampling that was done for the fires. Um again, these three schools had more contamination of the others and had these draws being prepared um the removal action work plans and putting them together just because there was so much overlap among the communities and also to make sure the work can be done this summer. Um that's why they were combined for the one public meeting
[44:20] is it would be common perhaps their own meeting or any other school specification details or is this generally something like this and we should
[44:42] hear do you mind talk so so theoretically works on a number of school sites across Southern California and many of these cleanups are similar of soil being removed and and taken off Shahir do you want to talk a bit about what the typical uh public comment and engagement processes. I know DPSC we have specific things in the statute that we need to do. Um this is one of them. Um, but to hear our other other conversations that go on, let me
[45:22] There was a recommendation to repeat the question since they can't hear online. I'm sorry. Or just like repeat the gist of the question. Yeah, it's okay.
[45:30] The question was uh what is the typical public comment process? um and and what is a typical public meeting process for some of these questions that are outside of NDAC's purview but really important to uh the community and the folks at the school.
[45:48] You know what we're doing here is typical to have a public comment period and a public meeting but there's in many project when there is high level of interest we we go and have other meetings with parents or teachers depending on the project we on many projects we go at schools and we meet with parents and teachers if there is a need to we could have other meetings not not just one meeting if needed and we've done that on many projects
[46:19] And I'd again just plug that communications US us um for some of those questions and to say, "Hey, here's some of the things that we're wondering that we'd like to talk."
[46:37] And are we doing one more? Okay. Are we doing one more?
[46:45] Okay. This is probably about three questions regarding San Raphael.
[46:56] Um, San Raphael, the north and south perimeters of the proposed removal area do not appear to include any testing areas that tested high, only green dots. Why is soil removal proposed for these spaces which include critical mature trees?
[47:17] Part two. Will the existing grass turf be replaced after the soil is removed? What play area conditions will the students find when they return to campus?
[47:31] Um, thank you. Um this question earlier
[47:47] that makes a lot of sense to me. Um and and again as far down the field as I say how much they will get to but everyone's really do as much
[48:26] Hello. Um I think um just looking at the first part of the question um it's hard to see on the earth. Um but the orange under the yellow um so nothing's above um and so to be take out the extensive soil rather than go and test um some of the soil especially on you know um the full word is is the probably best choice moving forward. So um though it might look shading that there are impact there are that's easier to see on the than it is on these slides.
[49:37] Just to add to what Maya said, the goal was test all exposed soil areas where all areas there is potential for impacts to be there were tested. That was the goal of the effort.
[49:54] Okay, one more online question. Given the known risk, why there are not clearly visible hazard signs posted at the site? Clear on-site information would go a long way in helping people make informed decisions to protect themselves. Where is the standardized signage to improve public awareness and safety?
[50:20] Thank you for that question. Um I can open here the but is is there to warn that lead and or arson protecting some of these miners? No. I believe unified has put up some signage. It's also worth noting that both unified and we are taking a very conservative approach. So if something is slightly above a screening level, accidentally unified has elected to remove it. Um and I know there is some variation between the schools. Um but I think that is a great comment that we can pack capacity to suggest better uh better signage to make sure people know what's there.
[51:19] And I think we'll go back to the papers.
[51:28] You have the power to make a lot of people feel better. Are there the levels that have been detected more consistent with maybe background there or the level such as
[51:50] Um so lead and arsenic are oh the question so about um the contamination models and whether these fall more in sort of the natural background whether um and whether or these are from a catastrophic event. Um that it sounds a little it sounds a little uh condescending but I will say this this was a motto in reviewing all these which
[54:15] know what's a dairy it would be similar to pesticides. It was there from all the operations that ever happened. It's there even if it was naturally occurring in some way we know it's there. that's above the nutrient level has to be women. So, I understand the the fear of their concern um associated with it, but it's coming out and it's not just from we found out about it being there from the study that the LA County Department of Public Health did and then what the city manager decided to have all the um schools close their open spaces. So I think I answered your question. Okay. Thank you. I will just ramble. So but it's a great question and yeah. Yeah, feel free to to reach out to follow.
[55:22] I think the best place to look is if you go to the community involvement tab, you can download the uh PDF of the removal action work plan and it is figure I don't remember exactly for Franklin but it's somewhere around figure five or six. There's a view of the whole school that shows the areas that will be removed. And if you go a couple more pages, there will be zoomed in areas on the orange uh orange areas and those will show uh the actual concentrations measured at each location.
[56:01] Yeah, just to jump. I think the maximum for Franklin was like 140 millig. So it wasn't um glad you're 140 and and we we can start after this benefits of coming in person. Um but uh also as Robin was saying uh you know Castina Unified and BTSC have taken a very conservative approach the levels at Franklin were were very near speeds
[56:34] and I think the woman mist you've been waiting so patiently
[56:44] weird I guess
[57:00] now airport we Um again for 387
[57:25] thank you and that question was you know for properties around the school district around the school sites what's the PSC's plan for remediation and cleanup and um unfortunately DPSC does not oversee the cleanups for residential properties. Uh we are only overseeing the cleanups for uh the school sites which uh again Pasina Unified is is paying for. Right. So Pasina Unified is paying for the cleanup and also paying for DPSC's oversight. Um we are not involved in any of the residential cleanups that have been happening in CN Alina.
[58:22] No, I think that's something that you could reach out to us. Um but you know part of the challenge with the response to the fires in Eman cities right was just how much work needed to be done how much work the Army Corps of Engineers did and how that fit in with the California Department of Public Health and other regulatory agencies. the way things fell out in all of just the the aftermath of the fires. DTSD was not put in oversight of any of those residential cleanups. We've only been brought in for the schools because uh for the schools they they have to have DPSC's oversight. Um, and while they're doing the work, we're going to have protections in place to make sure that dust is not moving off the school site, that that everything is contained and and removed. Um, but that is where in the fire response for the index. Um, and you get to the level and I understand be frustrated say that's not our it isn't and we can only oversee certain aspects of the cleanup and it's the on-site school soil cleanup. Um that being said, once the RAW is approved and uh a contractor is chosen and the work begins there and this is in the RAW, there are very very specific which Kate talked about there's the AQMD the South Coast AQMD they have very specific rules on future and death and it gets confusing and there's regulations may all have different numbers. What matters is this is for metals and soil and there should there are requirements for as she laid out for dust coming off the site. Um it must be wet down. There shouldn't be any visible dust clouds that are able to rise and and travel. They will have it's a requirement by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. They will have particle monitors um usually upwind, downwind and often cross cross gradient so that they're pathing every side and there will be the trucks. There's pretty standard requirements. Um, and you are free to watch and and if you feel that there has been dust coming off and it's not being managed, there will be contact information on the job sites for notifying EQMD. Um, I know that's not everything you want to hear because we can't, you know, come up to your own. We really want it dark. uh they can't clean up the the lead um if that did happen. But there are controls in place and there's regulations in place to help mitigate that to especially residential properties around.
[1:02:05] Yeah, we we have some specific measurements sometimes trans um between this and also make sure you know there's no masses out to the community if that helps.
[1:02:30] I actually have an online question that is very related to that. Uh they they said given the residential properties directly bordering the school the particularly along Franklin where homes share a wall boundary. What specific measures will be implemented to protect these adjacent open spaces during excavation activities?
[1:02:58] Yeah, there there is in in removal action work plan and you can download the plan and take a look at it. There are dust control and monitoring measure. There will be monitors at the property boundary and near the work area to make sure dust levels do not exceed certain numbers. If dust level exceeds certain numbers, there will be more more aggressive dust control or the work will be stopped.
[1:03:28] Okay, this is uh an adjacent question again. Will street cleaning be coordinated to increase frequency during this period and will nearby residents be notified in advance to ensure vehicles are moved and cleaning can be effectively carried out?
[1:03:50] What uh nearby residents will be notified when the work is happening and one of the requirements also that uh there
[1:07:23] it's imported to the school.
[1:07:33] Another question. Okay, we'll keep going in person.
[1:07:43] without due respect. So it's part of your process the confirmation has money to do all of these products. If that's not your call doesn't matter, right?
[1:08:08] Can you repeat the question? Uh so so the question is is part of our raw process uh making sure that the district has funding to uh do this work and if the work doesn't happen uh what what comes next is that essentially um yeah so so our raw process does not have like a financial analysis for the district to make sure that they are are able to fund the work. However, we've been working closely with Pasina Unified uh throughout this whole process and have um no concerns that the work won't be done, especially because everyone has been pushing to make sure this gets done by uh this summer. and we are all you know that there are some not Pasadena Unified but but other places where someone says oh we're going to do this in 5 years and they're like uh I don't know right but but with this real push to get this done in the next six months we have every confidence that it will happen and if it if it doesn't there are other things that DTSP could be able to do to making sure it happens. But but really and truly, we have no concerns and everything we've been working with past Unifi has been aligned around making sure this happens as soon as possible. And I I think they they're ready to go. They're just waiting on us at this point.
[1:09:50] One more question a little bit about the areas of good when is there that does try to explore the why and where it came from you know heard some back in the 80s but is that something that does support um however it seems that nobody Is there other legal discovery there? Um is there any other side by
[1:10:34] um okay I have to repeat the question but I had already been the very question generally and someone else jump in. Um, was is there is there a push to or is there any one or any body or any regulatory agency that that really wants to discover the why something is there as opposed to just that it's there we're going to get rid of it. Is that generally okay? Um
[1:11:06] I do you want me to I talk a lot but I think well and part Yeah. Okay. So part of it probably jump in. Um but I'm not going to touch you as
[1:11:25] so on on a majority of our sites. Um I work on a majority of industrial sites. We have a very you know we want to know how it got there, why it got there, how far something went, and we want to figure out how to get it out. um with metals that are naturally occurring or have a pretty unlikely historical source based on um historical site use and land use, the how old the buildings are, what the paint is, what the installation was, all all of those. Um we generally can make assumptions on where it came from and how long it's been there. Um, but that's not the goal of this investigation. To do that is is time inensive and expensive to try to sus out every single property, every single school property and every single thing that it was used for always and how many buildings, how many cars and all of that. So that's not what the goal of this was. It's there that it's mostly in the top three feet if not in the top two, one, and 6 in. And so that's recent human deposition and we're going to try to get it out. Um but Ben, you can answer better.
[1:12:48] Yeah, I mean really the GFC is the agency that looks for what is the source of this contamination and making sure it gets clean up. You know, for school sites in general and Pina Unified sites in particular, we know that Pastina Unified was the source, right? you know, elementary schools generally aren't using and we're not in the past using lead and arsenic for teaching, right? Um, but lead based paint, which is pretty ubiquitous, and arsenic was often used in pesticides, herbicides, uh, just other things historically. And with the fires, a lot of that, again, as as Maya mentioned, was was redistributed. So, as a response to the fires, Pasadena Unified tested all of their campuses, you know, found this lead and arsenic and said, "Regards where this came from, we're finding it in response to the fires and we're going to get rid of it so that, you know, kids are exposed." and and that's, you know, kind of a unique burden that school districts have, right, is that they know they didn't cause the contamination, but they need to get rid of it. And so, you know, I think Pasadena Unified to their credit is really stepping up and saying we find this we're making, you know, conservative decisions and even planters where, as others have mentioned, the lead may have just kind of been above residential screening levels. We're, you know, passing the unified and said, we're going to take care of this and get it off campus.
[1:14:43] Last question.
[1:14:49] Now obviously it's become best friend. Um is that really what we as a community to? I know USB
[1:15:13] it doesn't have to request to get the additional data now for updated information about the planning and program. Well, any communication between the school and us will be available in one virus store and if you can't find anything, you can probably contact us and we'll provide the information.
[1:15:53] The question was um you know going forward information about these cleanups and and going to be your best uh point of information. Any reports that we get from Unifi will be posted publicly there. and back in the unified publicly there and then there are things there that you're not finding about you know reach out to Kate reach out to um Anita and other things you know
[1:16:36] I have an online question will real time dust and air quality monitoring data be publicly available and accessible to the community.
[1:16:51] Well, well, data will be available as soon as we receive it and I anticipate within shortly after the data is collected, we would receive it and we will post it on Invir store.
[1:17:13] follow questions.
[1:17:21] I'm assuming you guys construction there's about two block of resation neighborhood support.
[1:17:38] Uh will there be air quality monitors on the roads as well as trucks would impact them as well? If not we should involve
[1:17:50] well well the air quality monitors would be on site near the work area and at the site boundary to make sure no no dust from no impact dust from impacted soil is going beyond the school boundary. With respect to the trucks, the trucks will be cleaned up before they leave the site and it will be covered and the covers are secure to make sure nothing comes off the trucks.
[1:18:16] Understood the air following monitors along the routure that you get additional level of confidence
[1:18:32] very
[1:18:41] yeah you know right now there aren't plans to put air quality monitors along the truck ride. Um I think that's something we can definitely uh consider but but again you know the generally when we've seen these excavation projects we we don't see any material leaving the trucks but but also um this isn't a fair but if you do see something of trucks that aren't properly secured or covered or or or something happened. We really want you to reach out to Kate and say, "Hey, I live next to San Raphael Elementary. I'm seeing something that I I don't think should be seen." I don't think that's going to happen. Pass Unified has been really responsive doing it, but but if you see that, let us know because then that lets us and and venture also AP get involved, stop the work, make sure it's being done safely. Well, appreciate that.
[1:19:53] Yeah. Um, I'm just going to add be a little too personal again. Um, I think a lot of the community uh feedback we got on online end up, you know, were lovingly compiled for us in Excel spreadsheets and organized. A lot of that really was focused on the trucks and the dust. And I think that um I understand the the um concern and the BTSD that came from um really poor air quality uh with quite as many trucks as there were from Army Corps taking huge amounts of debris off of or ash lots and that did contribute to poor air quality. At my house, we had ash kind of deposited everywhere continuously. So, I understand that there's there's a kind of a visceral reaction to way. There's going to be trucks, but there's going to be trucks of dust. There's going to be these are we're what will be attempted and hopefully fulfilled is a much more controlled and careful environmentally soil that is contaminated with lead and arsenic. So the goal is that when we're saying dust and dust and dust, our goal is also we don't want that dust anywhere. It has lears. Yeah. So the controlling that dust really is something that's being aged more and that's part partially again it's pretty well discussed in these draws. Um the AQMD sections talk about it. We completely
[1:21:31] the second particular round back and over. So likelihood kind of dust and sp
[1:21:54] No, I was just going to I'm going to plug the USD communication. Again, this is stuff they we can't necessarily adjust everything. It's still their budget and what they can do and what is actually achievable. Um so I would also just send you to yeah communicate that. Yeah, communications at pusd us is is a good place to send that. But but also if you haven't submitted that as a written comment, especially I think you know that that you're going over speed bumps and that's something to take a a close look at. Um please do so. Um because every written comment we get will get a written response. You know, we've gotten our nerves now that brought it up here. This is getting reported. We'll try to do it, but if you could please submit that as well.
[1:22:42] Second question will also be fully covered to ensure there's no potential.
[1:22:54] Yeah, there. Oh, I I don't know that there is a requirement that trucks with leaves soil get charred, but we at tax unified both don't want any soil keeping the drugs until it gets where it's supposed to go. Um, so that that's again something I think that we can take a look at and and consider to make sure that again the clean soil cost money too. Uh, we don't want that for a whole host of reasons left in the neighborhoods before it gets to the site for city.
[1:23:35] And last time is um on a daily basis approximately how many trucks per day of the number of trucks going over.
[1:24:00] Oh, repeat. Um I'm asking you the the
[1:25:34] still would be in stages and we wouldn't have clean soil coming out at the same time as dirty soil and that and to repeat what Kate said, you know, there in the raw they're limited to 10 drugs per day of soil removal. It should be similar of soil getting brought in. So you're looking at on average, you know, typically 20 trucks per day and and about that.
[1:26:25] So I'm hearing so I understand are probably based on the budget. So are there precautionary measures volunteer of available measures that we're not receiving because of such con?
[1:26:55] Yeah. Um responding to this question uh I'm sorry repeating the question uh was you know we've heard a lot about budgets during this conversation. Are there more protective things that could have been done but were not proposed due to budget concerns? Um and and the answer to that is is no. Um you know really Pastina Unified has not has not skimped on any of this due to
[1:28:45] don't consider budget. It's irrelevant to our recommendations for the site. We don't we can't it's just not how protected or whatever, you know, it's just what's best for the public. I think it's the same.
[1:29:00] Yeah. There may be other questions, but I think we'll be able to
[1:29:21] to
[1:29:24] Okay. Well, like I said, we're in our comment period right now, and we will be in it until when? May 4th. May the 4th be with you. Um, Also, I know that some of you are with parent groups and we brought a lot of information from the powerpoints and we had fact sheets on lead and arsenic in Spanish and English. I encourage you to take a bunch back to your groups because um we brought them for you and we thought that more people would attend and take them. So, if you'd like to pick one up, uh, please do so on your way out. Other than that, um, we'll we'll be here for a while. Um, that's all. Thank you so much again for hosting us, Pasadena Unified. Thank you for the comm's team for your help. And, uh, get home safely. Thank you.