The following will appear in the "City Council Notes" section of the upcoming issue of the Fullerton Observer Newspaper, our only local, independent paper.
City Council voted 5-0 to approve a 44-acre Industrial/Manufacturing Park on Harbor Blvd, at the north border of La Habra and Brea, on the former site of Beckman Instruments. The site has been demolished with the exception of Beckman Administration Building, and Beckman is currently paying for remediation of groundwater contamination due to years of dumping toxic waste on the site. In the days of their manufacturing, it was common for Beckman to dump waste into the ground. Some of that has percolated down into the groundwater. Mayor Whitaker explained, “There are historic areas, fields of pollution throughout North Orange County, some dating back to the war effort [World War II], and so we continue to deal with those today throughout Orange County and LA County as well.”
The approved site plan includes seven new buildings, zoned for industrial and manufacturing. City staff recommended approval of the project, despite the significant environmental impacts on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. These environmental impacts are “overridden” because of the benefits of the project purportedly outweigh the impacts. These benefits boil down to job creation and money.
Council Member Fitzgerald asked city staff excitedly, “How many jobs will this create?! And how many acres?! Wow!” She further championed the industrial park, stating, “This is such an exciting project…I applaud WestCo Realty [the developer] in your desire to develop this land. I’m so excited about this opportunity…I mean, it doesn’t even come around once in a lifetime…I just couldn’t be more pleased to be able to approve this tonight.”
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| The proposed Beckman Business Center in Fullerton. |
