Athena Mekis
Staff Writer
While construction in Signal Hill progresses, developers are running into the City’s newer, stricter oil code regulations, intended to keep businesses and residents healthy.
“Compared to what’s going on in the region, we’re lucky. Projects are moving forward. We have a lot of vacant land,” said Scott Charney, planning manager for the City’s Community Development Department Scott Charney.
Signal Hill has recently begun changing the process for gaining building permits, giving the City more control over who builds where.
The Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) played a major part in building around oil wells by precisely locating and evaluating all of them before building permits were issued, but DOGGR’s recent policy change of no longer mandating gas and oil leak testing compelled the City of Signal Hill to make policy changes of its own.
The City proposed an Interim Urgency Ordinance Aug. 16 concerning the oil code and hopes to adopt it at the Sept. 20 council meeting.
“The interim regulation addresses the proper handling of the re-abandonment of oil well standards as a result of the DOGGR policy changes,” according to the Interim Urgency Ordinance on the Signal Hill website.
The ordinance will make stricter standards for building around oil wells, but it may take months to pass, Charney said.
With the new Interim Development Standards, no structures shall be constructed atop any oil wells but may be built 10 feet away to allow access for a well-abandonment rig in case the well leaks gas or oil in the future.
Developers who obtained approval to build in the last two years, but have yet to build due to the recession, must adhere to the new policies before they may continue building.
The newly proposed medical building at 845 W. Willow St. is one such building that has been delayed due to Signal Hill’s new oil code.
There is an abandoned oil well on the location site. Therefore, the builders will eventually have to modify their site plan until the medical building meets the minimum reference clearance.
The 2H Construction Company that is building the medical facility will go to the city council to decide whether to modify the site plan now or later.
EDCO, a waste-management company, must design their two new buildings around 29 oil wells.
The City of Signal Hill issued a conditional-use permit for the proposed site in Feb. 2009.
The recycling and transfer facility has begun construction at the corner of Patterson and California avenues, where they must maintain three oil wells and design their building around 14 abandoned oil wells, according to edcodisposal.com.
The Administrative Terminal will be built across the street at 27th Street and California Avenue. There, 12 oil wells must be reanalyzed for gas and oil leaks before building may continue.
Signal Hill’s very own In-N-Out will open at 701 E. Spring St. in the Gateway retail center.
As reported in the Signal Tribune [Fresh & Easy, Ross Dress For Less, and In-N-Out Burger still in the pipeline; March 2, 2010] an independent engineering firm discovered an earthquake fault at the restaurant’s site, resulting in the relocation of the building several feet.
Carl Van Fleet, vice president of Planning and Development for In-N-Out, said that the soil is stable and the grand opening will be in mid November.
“We are very enthusiastic about our new restaurant in Signal Hill,” he added.
The Gateway retail center has two more vacant lots, Charney said.
The Signal Hill Police Department is on schedule to open by summer 2012. They encountered one idle and one active oil well. The department building was designed around those two wells.
City Ventures residential properties completed the first phase of building 18 homes at 1850 N. Orizaba Ave. A total of 54 homes are being built.
Once the homes are finished at City Ventures, MBK Homes will begin its 81 townhome units next door at 1899 Orizaba Ave.
“The City is very happy with the [City Ventures] model under construction,” Charney said, referring to the townhomes green standards with solar-powered roofs and more.
Lastly, in a beneficial move for General Motors, Buick and Cadillac will move next door to each other.
Boulevard Buick moved to 2800 Cherry Ave., and its sister company, Boulevard Cadillac, will be moving next door in March to 2850 Cherry Ave. ß
