Residents and experts press for more testing on Hamilton Lane subdivision near Chatham Barrel Yard; council pauses decision

Mayor White and city staff paused a final decision on a five‑lot subdivision at Hamilton Lane after several residents and an appellant pressed the council for more geotechnical and subsurface testing. Staff planner Ivan Flores summarized the project scope and said staff prepared an addendum to a previously adopted mitigated negative declaration and recommended denying the appeal and affirming the planning commission’s approval. "Staff's recommendation this evening is to approve resolution 2026‑90 denying the appeal and affirming the decision of the planning commission," Flores said.

Appellant Heidi Whitman urged the council to match environmental review to the site's complexity, saying the parcel sits "700 feet down gradient of an active contamination site known as the Chatham Barrel Yard" and that prior testing on the property reached only shallow depths. Whitman and a retained hydrogeologist recommended deeper soil and soil‑gas sampling under each proposed house, on‑site monitoring wells, a geotechnical investigation before ground disturbance and safeguards (a redundant liner and monitoring points) if the proposed bioretention basin remains. Several neighbors and groups — including Sierra Club North County and Escondido Neighbors United — voiced similar concerns about plume rebounds documented in 2024–2025 monitoring reports.

The project applicant, developer Lee Duran, and environmental consultant Dan Weiss said they voluntarily conducted soil and soil‑gas sampling at four locations that showed no detectable VOCs or PCBs and that the proposed basin is a lined biofiltration basin (not an infiltration basin). Weiss summarized the cleanup history for the Chatham site and said the shallow groundwater near the site has been largely restored: "The shallow zone groundwater has pretty much been restored to pristine condition," he said. Council members, noting the technical complexity and the public’s concerns, voted unanimously to continue the item and directed staff to meet with both the appellant and applicant to clarify testing, basin design and monitoring language before the council sets a future hearing date.