Politics & Government

Toxic Showdown at City Hall

Council members get earful from concerned Barron Park residents over proximity to hazardous chemicals at CPI.

A confrontation between Barron Park residents and their neighbor, , over hazardous substances unfolded Monday night before a skeptical and inquisitive City Council.

The debate was over and were grandfathered into being allowed to operate in close proximity to residences.

In this case, CPI is in the crosshairs of nearby residents following , which led those residents to discover that CPI’s operation is a ‘Title 19’ site, or subject to the regulations of the California Accidental Release Prevention Program (CARPP).

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Residents were outraged about not being notified that CPI uses highly toxic substances in the operation of its plating shop, and demanded better transparency.

“It was only because of the research of people in Barron Park that we learned what was really happening at CPI,” said Barron Park resident Fred Balin. “They never told the city that they had a Title 19 site.”

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Another nearby resident, Samir Tuma, said CPI has in fact made an honest effort of coming into compliance with Title 19, but that regardless, those kinds of chemicals shouldn’t be near homes.

“This plating shop is right behind our neighborhood,” said Tuma. “A plating shop with potassium cyanide and nitric acid should not be near our neighborhood.”

City staff brought the issue to Council in order to get direction as to how best to resolve the dispute. Based on a somewhat arcane legal precedent, the City could decide to force CPI to phase out, or ‘amortize’ the plate shop, while at the same time beefing up the planning code to prohibit such future uses within close proximity to homes.

Also on the table was a less aggressive option, in which residents would open a dialogue with CPI and come to a resolution without the City necessarily getting involved.

That was very much the option CPI President and COO Bob Pickett preferred Monday night. In a presentation to council, he and Steve Maher, a risk analysis expert hired by CPI to evaluate the danger posed to the community, detailed the various efforts the company has made to reduce the amount of toxics stored onsite and to boost safety protocols.

Pickett began by announcing that last month, for the first time since the inception of Title 19 requirements, CPI has come into full compliance, and done so voluntarily, noting that the building pre-dated the CARPP law, so CPI need not have changed anything.

Their safety improvements began in 2006, when CPI closed down its San Mateo product lines and moved them to Palo Alto.

“This provided the catalyst to operate our plate shop,” he said.

Since then, CPI has installed 300 alarm and sensor points onsite, added 24-hour security monitoring those systems, added new requirements that all deliveries of toxic chemicals are overseen by trained CPI staff, and required that all substances be “double-contained,” so that a second barrier prevents spillage in the event the first barrier fails.

As a result of these upgrades, CPI's consultant insisted that there is no risk of toxins leaving the CPI property in the event of a worst-case scenario.

To require the company to shut down its plate shop, therefore, would be “unjustified, forceful and unlawful,” said Pickett.

Residents, however, remained firmly in favor of forcing CPI to close its plating shop—after fairly recouping its investment—and prohibiting such uses from occurring near homes in the future.

Council Members wasted no time interrogating CPI representatives.

“What are the rules on disclosure for home-sellers?” asked Council Member Nancy Shepard.

A Barron Park realtor came to the mic and said he always discloses to potential buyers the issues with the home’s proximity to hazardous substances.

Council Member Greg Scarff then sharply questioned the CPI representatives, saying, “You made a very strong statement that there is no threat to public health. You didn’t qualify that statement at all. I ask the question, if the buildings were to collapse, and the chemicals mixed, is that a threat or is that not a threat?”

Mr. Pickett said that the buildings were all upgraded to current seismic safety standards, but would not concede that even a catastrophic temblor would pose a threat to nearby residents.

“If we had a magnitude 20 earthquake, I don’t know that it would bring the building down,” he said.

After further inquisition, council members seemed satisfied that over the long term, residential zoning was simply not compatible with industrial zoning where toxic chemicals are allowed.

Council Member Pat Burt introduced a motion calling on City staff to put together a budget and hire a consultant who will look at what options the City has for amortizing the plating facility. The motion passed unanimously with Mayor Yiaway Yeh absent.

Once staff returns with a deeper analysis of the City’s options, they may move forward with the changes.

“Zoning was created specifically to prevent this kind of thing from occurring,” said Council Member Gail Price.


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