The Sunnyvale Sun

News

More funding for lawyer

By Cody Kraatz

The Sunnyvale City Council unanimously approved another $200,000 for legal counsel from an environmental lawyer related to the downtown redevelopment project and a toxic plume of perchloroethylene (PCE) found in the groundwater there.

The city hired Don Sobelman of Barg, Coffin, Lewis & Trapp in January, initially for $20,000, and extended the contract to $49,500 in March, all of which has been spent. The new contract runs through the end of 2009.

"The project is continuing now for another two to three years, and oversight work with the [Regional Water Quality Control Board] will require ongoing environmental law expertise," said David Kahn, city attorney.

The board is supervising cleanup efforts after tests this year revealed the extent of a plume of PCE in the groundwater below Sunnyvale's downtown. The toxic chemical was used on the site 30 to 50 years ago by several dry cleaners.

The city and Downtown Sunnyvale Mixed Use LLC, a development team formed by Sand Hill Properties and global real estate investor RREEF, were installing a vapor extraction well on the east side of the downtown redevelopment project last week.

Sobelman's future duties, at a rate of $350 per hour, could include negotiating deals that would release the city from environmental liability and guiding the city through future investigations of environmental pollution.

The city meeting about the plume and cleanup plans will be on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Sunnyvale Public Library program room, 665 W. Olive Ave. A fact sheet with more information is available at Sunnyvale City Hall.