COBB >> Debris cleanup is not always as simple as picking up trash and throwing it away.
The Hoberg’s Historical Association came to a Gate Fee Charge Account agreement with the county for waste that needs to be abated from the Hoberg Resort and Spa site on Cobb.
Hoberg’s was destroyed when the Valley Fire swept through the grounds of the historic resort in September of 2015, leaving charred waste, scorched trees and some material deemed potentially hazardous. An agreement was made with the Eastlake Sanitary landfill (ESL) to offset the cost of maintaining the landfill and support of the resort’s Nuisance Abatement Cleanup.
Lars Ewing, Lake County Public Service Director said the resort has an estimated 5,026 tons of waste remaining from the fire. Since the HHA has started the cleanup process, they have transported over 890 tons of waste.
There was an original estimate of less than $200,000 worth of waste that needed to be secured in dumps when cleanup procedures began. The current balance is at $45,533. With both estimated amounts, it leaves the HHA with an average amount of 3,000 tons of remaining waste at the resort.
Ray Ruminski the Lake County Environmental Health Division said the Nuisance Abatement Cleanup was issued because of the contamination of debris from buildings and nearby trees.
“The previous asbestos contamination from demolition and renovation of the existing buildings a few years before the fire has been dealt with and cleaned up,” Ruminski said. “Right alongside that on the same property is a big mess with wood waste and tree debris, so that’s going on at the same time the building debris removal is going on.”
Crews recently found two small buildings that did have asbestos, Ruminski added. There is a need for dry weather to allow an asbestos contractor remove it and transport the material to a qualified landfill by Fairfield.
District 5 Board Supervisor Rob Brown said the asbestos on site was not the problem during the time the resort was being remodeled before the fires.. There were a number of buildings in Cobb and the rest of the fire area with asbestos.
“The fact that there was still some asbestos there does not mean they didn’t clean it up from before, it just means it was in the buildings that were destroyed by the fire,” Brown said. “There was a lot of testing that was done over by the wood piles as well mostly to find out there was going to be any contamination to the wells at the Cobb water sources.”
Ruminski said they have been taking the wood out of the site and they are doing an operation for firewood so only some of the debris is being thrown out and put into the landfill.
“The debris piles of the buildings now are probably 50 percent or more done. They had some good progress during the summer and late fall and very slow progress during the season of heavy rain and they are waiting for a little more dry out to finish that,” Ruminski said.
