I have previously written to the paper outlining my concerns about the large amount of asbestos in the soil. In the Planning Commission meeting of Sept. 10 I told them the land was rampant with asbestos. To the credit of some of the planning commissioners, they too were concerned. At that time, the developers told us not to worry; only 5 percent to 10 percent of the soil had asbestos. This was a clear-cut lie to all of us. In the memo to the Board of Supervisors from the Planning Department it states: “At least 300 of the home sites, two neighborhood parks, conference facility, community center, community commercial village and golf course holes 10 through 17 and a portion of 18 have asbestos in the soil at the “high end range.” This is clearly the most toxic site in all of Lake County.
This sure seems like a lot more than 5 percent to 10 percent to me. I ask you, are they telling the truth? Their plan to handle this toxic site is to cover the soil in most areas with 3 inches of uncontaminated soil and the home sites with 12 inches of soil. This is woefully inadequate. Placing more top soil on the home sites will create serious erosion problems as most of theses sites are on a grade of over 30 percent.
Imagine if your child were to go out in the backyard to play and digs a hole in the soil, he/she is now contaminated with asbestos fibers. If a dog digs a hole anywhere in the above mentioned areas and gets in your car, both you and your car are now contaminated. Children have a much higher health risk and exposure at an early age may well lead to diseases and cancer earlier in life. These asbestos fibers are so small they can only be seen with a microscope. They cause cancer and other lung diseases. The incubation time for these diseases is about 10 to 40 years. This we know is a fact and there are still many lawsuits concerning families, miners and construction workers getting cancer. The asbestos exposure epidemic is in full swing in the United States. Approximately 10,000 people a year are dying of these awful diseases and these figures are increasing yearly and our Planning Department thinks you can build right on top of it.
How the BOS could possibly consider approving this sub-division is beyond me. They are supposed to look out for the best interests of their neighbors in the county. By approving this sub-division, they will being putting every adult and child who lives there directly in harms way. The neighbors who live adjacent to the site should be very scared, especially if they have children. So should every construction worker who will be working on the site.
This whole project needs to be sent back to the drawing boards and be re-done omitting the areas of asbestos from any home sites or high foot traffic areas. Some land should just not be developed.
Please join me at 1:30 p.m. today at the Board of Supervisors meeting to watch these developers use smoke and mirrors to try and convince us that our families lives and our way of life will be better for us all, just trust them.
The question now is will the BOS have the courage and integrity to send this mess back to the drawing boards or will they fail to protect the current and new citizens of Lake County and approve this high risk sub-division?
I say that the developers cannot be trusted. This needs to go to a vote of the people in the next election. I”m very concerned that the BOS will roll over for the sake of money.
Norm Ihle is a Lakeport resident.
