Mayor wants to see alleged Runkle Canyon contamination for himself
Residents say lab test done on creek water showed signs of arsenic
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

Mayor Paul Miller told the Simi Valley Acorn this week that he intended to go along on a citysponsored trip to obtain samples from a creek in Runkle Canyon that a group of residents say has tested positive for high levels of arsenic.

After months of waiting for assistance from state and federal agencies, the mayor, who first called for homebuilders KB Home and Lennar to halt grading in the canyon in October 2006 in order to give the city time to address the concerns of residents living nearby, said he's ready to get some answers for himself.

"The only way I'm ever going to know (if Runkle Canyon is contaminated) is to go up with those people and examine where and what it is they're talking about," Miller said. "At this point I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Runkle Canyon LLC, the name given to the joint partnership between KB and Lennar to build 461 upscale residences on the property located along Simi's southern border, agreed to delay grading on the project after discussions with the city last year.

The proposed development- dubbed Runkle Ranch- is on a 1,500acre property located just a few miles from the now infamous Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a fact opponents of the project say makes it an unsafe place to build homes.

KB Home has always contended several studies done on the site concluded it posed no public health risk.

"Runkle Canyon is committed to the health and safety of our homebuyers and nearby residents in planning and building each new community," said Keith Jajko, Runkle Canyon's local spokesperson. "We have an open dialogue with the city and the residents, and we're working with them to do potential new testing as desired."

But Simi Valley residents Frank Serafine, Terry Matheney and Patricia Coryell- who first spoke to the Simi Valley Acorn in October after the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Panel released its report linking toxins and radiation released from the former rocket testing facility to cases of cancer- remain convinced that Runkle Canyon is not fit for development.

Now the group is going public, saying that they have the proof of contamination they asked the city to go look for during the public comment portion of a City Council meeting in March.

In a story released last week in the Los Angeles City Beat entitled "Radiation Rangers," Serafine, Matheney and fellow resident John Southwick tell the story of how they hiked up to get a sample from a creek in Runkle Canyon themselves, before paying around $4,000 to have it tested by Moorparkbased PatChem Laboratories.

"I was filling these plastic bottles when my chemical gloves started bubbling," Matheney said. "I couldn't believe it! I thought it's obviously eating its way through my gloves, so I just tore them right off of me because it looked like it was permeating the rubber!"

Serafine told the Acorn this week that when the results from the lab came back, the samples showed highly elevated levels of the poisonous chemical element arsenic.

"It's all up and down that creek," said Serafine, who resides on Talbert Avenue. "It's all this gooey, bad stuff coming out of these big pipes. It's no mystery. Now we have the proof."

Serafine said the results of the tests are available- along with photos from the trip when the samples were taken by a PatChem lab technician- at www.stoprunkledyne.com.

"It's all there. Anybody can go see it," Serafine said.

The group has since shared their findings with the city- possibly prompting the proposed trip, which Serafine said he doesn't expect will even happen.

"I just see another excuse coming down the line from (City Manager Mike) Sedell," Serafine said. "And I don't know why they're going up there anyway; we already went up there and did the test. We've been telling them this for a long time, and just now they're starting to listen."

Though plans for the excursion had not yet been finalized as of Thursday, assistant city manager Laura Behjan, who is in charge of arranging the trip, said the city was looking into using a previously contracted laboratory to do the testing.

"What we want to do out there is test an area that a group of residents have brought to our attention as possibly having potential contaminants," Behjan said. "I believe this group has done some testing on their own, and we feel it's important for the city to go out there as well and assess . . . the situation."

Behjan said she did not know the exact location of the site in question but said that the residents had provided the city GPS coordinates on how to get there.

She also said she was unsure of whether or not the site is on Runkle Canyon LLC property.

Jajko, who also said he was unsure of the exact location of the alleged contamination, said he was aware of the group's claims.

"They went up there and did some testing- we have no idea where precisely- but they did the testing," Jajko said. "Now we're aware that the city is interested in doing additional testing of its own."

When asked if his employer had any issue with more testing being done on the site, Jajko said no.

"There's no issues there. That's why we want to go out with the city and with a neutral third party and do additional testing as the city and residents desire," he said.

Miller, reiterating a point he's made several times in the past six months, said no development would go on at Runkle Canyon until the city gets the answers about the property it's seeking.

"Obviously, if any of our residents bring information to us that says a public health hazard exists, we want to get to the bottom of it," the mayor said. "This project is not going to move forward until we're satisfied it's safe up there."