Sierra Madre council affirms Meadows design review, adds soil testing record after residents raise dioxin concerns
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Summary
City staff told the council that soil remediation at the Meadows at Bailey Canyon is complete after testing found elevated contaminants in one spot; residents and an appellant pressed for supplemental CEQA review and broader retesting. Council approved the design review permit and asked staff to attach the soil testing timeline to the record.
Sierra Madre City Council on Tuesday heard hours of testimony about post‑fire soil testing and remediation at the Meadows at Bailey Canyon subdivision and ultimately approved the project’s design review permit while directing staff to include the recent soil testing and remediation documents in the official record.
City Attorney staff presented a timeline showing that Toll Brothers completed site testing in January and that, of 89 soil samples taken across the 17.3‑acre site, elevated contaminant levels were found at a location the materials refer to as "FS2." Staff said Toll Brothers excavated and removed the contaminated soil, hauled it to Soil Safe of California in Adelanto, and that the city has since confirmed remediation at FS2 is complete. "It wasn't true that this happened because of public comment," the City Attorney said in the presentation, adding the soil‑testing condition had been in place since May 2025 and had been triggered by the grading permit process.
Residents and health experts told the council they remain worried about the scope and methods of the testing. Rob Fukuzaki, who lives immediately adjacent to the Meadows site, said testing showed "dioxins at a level three times the residential limit" and asked who would hold the developer accountable if contamination spread: "This is our health. This is our lives," he said. Neighbor Cheryl Fukuzaki said a developer representative had promised to retest properties along residents’ fences but that residents later received no such retesting.
Philip Yao, the appellant and a nearby resident who led a multihour appeal presentation, urged the council to remand the project for supplemental CEQA review, arguing the January 2025 Eaton Fire "substantially altered" soils, hydrology and fire behavior and that the certified EIR needs updating. He also raised design and visual‑compatibility concerns for the 42‑home project.
Applicant representatives said the design review permit before the council does not itself authorize grading or soil disturbance and that the grading/soil remediation work was handled under separate permits. Project representative Jonathan Frankel said independent review of the soil management plan was completed and remediation was performed under city oversight. He told council there would be benefit in compiling a single summary document of testing and remediation but argued a new EIR would not generate new technical information relevant to the design review decision.
After deliberation, the council rejected the core appeal arguments about design compatibility and voted to adopt Resolution 26‑14 approving Design Review Permit 25‑02 subject to the planning commission’s conditions and with one change: the council instructed staff to add a new section (Exhibit B) to the resolution that attaches the soil testing results and the remediation/hauling manifest to the administrative record so the testing and mitigation steps are preserved with the project record. Council members said staff should follow up on specific questions raised in the meeting — for example, allegations that trenching took place across FS2 — and report back.
Separately, council accepted a $200,000 Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD) "Restore" grant to support Bailey Canyon trail recovery. Staff recommended, and council approved, a resilience option to build a durable "wet crossing" and new trail access to the Live Oak Nature Trail (about 80 feet south of the former bridge), with interpretive kiosks and native plantings; $50,000 of the grant was used for geotechnical and soft‑cost analysis and roughly $150,000 is available for construction and fixtures; council directed staff to complete work and seek reimbursement under the grant by the June 30 deadline.
What happens next: council approval of the design review permit stands. Staff will post a consolidated exhibit documenting the soil testing, the soil management plan, and remediation manifests to the project record and will return with answers to the specific technical questions posed about trenching, retesting and analytic methods. The council also authorized the public works director to finalize the Bailey Canyon trail scope and contracts to spend the RPOSD grant funds.
Representative quotes from the hearing include Rob Fukuzaki: "The soil was tested back in January, came back with dioxins at a level three times the residential limit." The City Attorney said the testing and soil‑management steps were part of the grading permit process and that the city "confirmed that soil remediation is complete" at the FS2 location. Appellant Philip Yao urged a remand for supplemental environmental review, saying the post‑fire conditions "demand a supplemental."
