Swarthmore Cleanup Begins

Swarthmore Avenue tenants received a work notification notice last week announcing soil sampling work and the installation of a soil vapor extraction system in the Village.
Owned by 14 trust entities operating as Pacific Palisades Properties (PPP), the 2.77-acre commercial Village property is in the process of being sold to prominent developer Rick Caruso.
Mary McDaniel, a spokesperson for PPP, previously told the Palisadian-Post that “the owners discovered [evidence of] perchloroethylene (PEC),” which has impacted soil and groundwater beneath part of the property.
According to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, “Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene, [PEC] or PERC, is the predominant chemical solvent used in dry cleaning.”
The levels of PEC found do not pose an immediate health threat or danger to the tenants of the Village area, McDaniel told the Post previously.
The soil vapor extraction process entails removing vapor by applying a vacuum into the soil. This system will be installed at and underneath the north end of the “Palisades Village Units” on Swarthmore, according to McDaniel.
“The soil gas survey will include drilling and sampling at 19 Swarthmore locations and the intersection of Swarthmore and Albright,” reads the work notification. “The [Soil Vapor Extraction] installation work involves drilling approximately 13 extraction and monitoring wells…four of these wells [that include two extraction and two monitoring wells] will be installed inside vacant units.”
The rest of the extraction wells will be installed in the parking area at the rear of the retail stores north of Swarthmore, McDaniel told the Post.
The monitoring wells will be placed inside 1037 Swarthmore (formerly á la Tarte) and 1051 Swarthmore (formerly The Prince’s Table), and the extraction wells will be located inside 1039 Swarthmore (also á la Tarte) and 1049 Swarthmore (formerly Village Books).
According to the notice, the extraction and monitoring wells will be about two to three inches in diameter, “and will take three hours each to complete.”
McDaniel told the Post the process “is noninvasive and will not disrupt local businesses.” However, “parking and access to the Palisades Village parking driveway may be interrupted occasionally during this work” as the installation occurs.
“We estimate that all wells and underground pipe trenching will take approximately 10 to 12 business days to complete,” McDaniel wrote. “No work will be performed on weekends or after regular business hours.”