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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2011-2012
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury 2011-2012 Final Report Page 74 Known Soil Contamination and Building Permit Applications
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 14 findings
F1
Page 77
The building departments of the County of Santa Cruz, and the Cities of Watsonville, Capitola, Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, do not consistently communicate with Environmental Health Services (EHS) to identify known soil contamination sites during the building permit application process.
F2
Page 77
Public access to the Environmental Health Database is unnecessarily limited because it is only available by visiting or calling the EHS office.
F3
Page 78
With the exception of the county’s LORI Property Disclosure Statement, nowhere in the examination of city and county building permits was the issue of existing or possible soil contamination brought to the attention of the applicant.
F4
City of Capitola. 2012. City of Capitola Application For Building Permit. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://www.ci.capitola.ca.us/capcity.nsf/vLookup/buildingpermitapp/$file/buildingpermita pp.pdf
F5
City of Watsonville. 2012. Building Permit Application. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://growinwatsonville.com/building_permit.pdf
F6
City of Scotts Valley. 2012. Scotts Valley Building Permit Application. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://www.scottsvalley.org/downloads/building/A_New_Building_Permit_Application.pdf
F7
County of Santa Cruz. 2012. County of Santa Cruz Building Permit Application. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://www.sccoplanning.com/pdf/bldg/bp_app2.pdf
F8
County of Santa Cruz, Environmental Health Services. Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA). Accessed April 11, 2012. http://sccounty01.co.santa- cruz.ca.us/eh/HM/HM01000.htm
F9
State of California. Code of Regulations, Title 27, Division 1, Subdivision 4, Chapter
F10
Santa Cruz County. 2012. County Code, Chapter 7.100. Accessed May 21, 2012, http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/santacruzcounty/
F11
California State Water Resources Control Board. GeoTracker web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/
F12
State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Envirostor web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/
F13
County of Santa Cruz. Geographic Information Systems web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://www.co.santa- cruz.ca.us/Departments/GeographicInformationSystemsGIS.aspx
F14
County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, Environmental Health Services Division. 2012. Santa Cruz County Site Mitigation List. Accessed June 13, 2012. http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/eh/HM/scc_site_mitigation_list.pdf
Recommendations 14
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R1Page 78The building departments of the County of Santa Cruz and of the cities of Watsonville, Capitola, Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley should establish a procedure with Environmental Health Services to identify known soil contamination sites during the building permit application process.
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R2Page 78Environmental Health Services should make the Environmental Health Database available as an online geographic resource within the existing Santa Cruz County Geographic Information Systems database. Environmental Health Services should also provide their department phone number as a link on the GeoTracker website.
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R3Page 78Building departments should make property owners and developers aware that the Environmental Health Database lists known soil contamination sites, as a routine step in the building permit application process.
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R4Page 78Environmental Health Services and the building departments should notify applicants that the identification of contaminated soils on their property may impact the building permit process.
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R5Page 78Environmental Health Services and the building departments should develop a soil contamination advisory statement, such as the sample given below, and incorporate that statement and information into the building permit application process. Sample: Property owners or their agents can find a list of all known contaminated soil sites by viewing the Geotracker, Santa Cruz County Site Mitigation List websites, and/or by contacting the Environmental Health Services at (831) 454-2022 and asking if their property is on the list of known contaminated sites. The identification of contaminated soils on the property may impact the building permit process.
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R6City of Scotts Valley. 2012. Scotts Valley Building Permit Application. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://www.scottsvalley.org/downloads/building/A_New_Building_Permit_Application.pdf
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R7County of Santa Cruz. 2012. County of Santa Cruz Building Permit Application. Accessed May 19, 2012. http://www.sccoplanning.com/pdf/bldg/bp_app2.pdf
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R8County of Santa Cruz, Environmental Health Services. Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA). Accessed April 11, 2012. http://sccounty01.co.santa- cruz.ca.us/eh/HM/HM01000.htm
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R9State of California. Code of Regulations, Title 27, Division 1, Subdivision 4, Chapter
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R10Santa Cruz County. 2012. County Code, Chapter 7.100. Accessed May 21, 2012, http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/santacruzcounty/
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R11California State Water Resources Control Board. GeoTracker web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/
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R12State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Envirostor web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/
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R13County of Santa Cruz. Geographic Information Systems web page. Accessed May 21, 2012. http://www.co.santa- cruz.ca.us/Departments/GeographicInformationSystemsGIS.aspx
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R14County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, Environmental Health Services Division. 2012. Santa Cruz County Site Mitigation List. Accessed June 13, 2012. http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/eh/HM/scc_site_mitigation_list.pdf