Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2012-2013
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 3 findings
F1
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
Public access to the Environmental Health Database is unnecessarily limited because it is only available by visiting or calling the EHS office.
F3
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.
Recommendations 5
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R1The 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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R2Environmental 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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R3Building 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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R4Environmental 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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R5Environmental 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.