State environmental regulators are slowing the charge to finalize a cleanup plan at a contaminated former military instillation in East Pasadena after residents raised alarm bells last week that the health of future tenants at the 550 apartments planned for the site could be jeopardized.

A divided City Council approved the controversial project in July, paving the way for regulators to iron out an agreement for developer Trammell Crow Inc. to clean up the 8.53-acre site site on East Foothill Boulevard next to the Kaiser Permanente building under the supervision of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Trammell Crow will be responsible for carrying out the plan, which still needs a final stamp of approval from the state. A company representative did not return a request for comment.

Since 1978, the land has housed Space Bank Mini Storage. But before that, it was a rocket and torpedo research and development facility for much of its nearly century-old life and was run by the U.S. Navy for that purpose for three decades, beginning around World War II.

Compounds from metal cleaners, gasoline and heavy metals were among the contaminants found by several rounds of testing conducted by consultants and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over the site. But an environmental expert said there are big problems with that data — and insists more testing and a more extensive cleanup plan are needed.

‘Fine print’

State officials Thursday presented the cleanup plan and heard comments and concerns as part of a 30-day public notice period that was set to end Monday, April 8 — which Pasadena residents say isn’t enough time to comb through 500 pages of documents.

“Based on the comments received thus far, we will extend the public comment period,” department spokesman Sanford Nax said in an email Friday. “We will review the comments we’ve received thus far and decide by the end of next week how long to extend it.”

The charge was led by Kristin Shrader-Frechette, an environmental scientist, and councilmen Victor Gordo and Gene Masuda, who both voted against the project last year. They argue the comment period should be open through July 8.

Shrader-Frechette said there are contradictions in state documents: One says the cleanup will render the site “safe” for residents, while another says residents could face higher cancer risks for more than a year after cleanup from carcinogenic volatile organic compounds.

Such risks are even greater for children because they take in a more air and water per pound of body mass than adults, she said.

“Those two documents, from my point of view as a scientist, have many, many, many questionable scientific claims in them,” the Pasadena resident said in an interview. “Unless you read the fine print of these 500 pages, you don’t see the contradictions.”

Shrader-Frechette’s research areas include philosophy of science, environmental health and justice, ethics and quantitative risk assessment, according to her biography at the University of Notre Dame, where she is a professor in the philosophy and biological sciences departments. She is currently the director of the Center for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health in Los Angeles.

Thorough enough?

The property has been subjected to testing by various parties since 1978, which included taking 382 soil samples and 157 soil gas samples. Results showed volatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons and metals but no PCBs, dioxin, pesticides, NDMA and perchlorate, state officials said.

There are problems with that data, Shrader-Frechette charged, who in an interview detailed how lack of a paper trail and adherence to federal environmental testing standards resulted in “dirty data,” she said. She’s calling on state regulators to oversee a fuller round of testing.

“What has to happen? Full site testing. It’s a no-brainier,” she said. “You’re building houses for little kids on a toxic waste dump. It’s not even a difficult call.”

The past testing was conducted in locations that house such items as a former automotive garage and drainage areas. Shrader-Frechette said full site testing would involve sampling soil at uniform distances across the entire site.

The developer’s cleanup plan submitted to the state is to remove some 745 cubic yards of soil in 55 truckloads over 80 days. Protective measures will be implemented to limit the amount of dust generated. It represents one of three options outlined in a assessment a consultant completed for the developer.

Other options included not cleaning the site at all or a more detailed effort to remove volatile organic compounds from the underground air.

“Such a process of removing VOCs from soil gas at the site would eliminate any potential vapor intrusion threat to future residential site users, but would be a costly and time-intensive process,” the report reads.

The site very well could be put to productive use, Shrader-Frechette said; the limiting factor to environmental problems is often money. In this case, the report shows the deepest level of cleanup would cost twice as much.

The state agency will issue a document in response to concerns and questions raised at the end of the comment period, officials said.

The project

Planned are 550 new apartments, 69 of which will be affordable housing, plus 9,800 square feet of restaurant and shopping space on the land that abuts the 210 Freeway.

The proposed development would involve demolishing the 23 buildings and six temporary structures that currently occupy the land, most of which is owned by Space Bank.

Exposure to pollution from the interstate was another environmental concern raised during the council’s consideration of the plan.

Proponents say the hundreds of units would help put a dent in the city’s housing shortage.