LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a public meeting Thursday, September 20, from 6 to 9 p.m. to discuss the Former Camp Elliott, East Elliott military munitions response project. The meeting will take place in the Mission Trails Regional Park Theater located at One Friar Junipero Serra Trail in San Diego (92119).
The project area, known as East Elliott, is part of 30,500 acres acquired by the Department of Defense in 1941 and used as a U.S Marine Corps training facility from 1941 to 1944 for live-fire exercises with tank, anti-tank and artillery detachments. The area is located on the eastern edge of the city of San Diego, north of Highway 52 and west of Santee Lakes. It is one of four project areas at the former camp that are being managed under the Formerly Used Defense Sites program.
At the meeting, the Corps will answer questions concerning the ongoing Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study that will investigate and determine cleanup alternatives for military munitions and chemical constituents that might have been left behind by military use of the property.
Field work will identify soil sample locations and collect and analyze the samples to evaluate human health and environmental risks from potential munitions constituents within East Elliott. Crews will also conduct digital geophysical mapping of approximately 132 acres in the project area to identify magnetic anomalies that may or not be associated with former military activities. The field work is schedule to start October 22 and expected to take three and half months to complete.
The city of San Diego has designated the property within East Elliott for recreational use. East Elliott is characterized by a series of canyons that drain southward to the San Diego River located about a half mile to the south. The land is vegetated with native grasses, coastal sage, black sage and chaparral. East Elliott currently consists of 146 individual parcels owned by more than 42 private individuals, the cities of Santee and San Diego, two school districts, several land development companies and a public utility company. East Elliott includes undeveloped land with unrestricted access along its southern boundary, makimg it attractive for a variety of recreational uses, including hiking, mountain biking, jogging, motorcycling, horseback riding and off-road vehicle use. Rock climbers use several clusters of large boulders. Several dirt roads and trails are located along the ridges and canyons.
The Formerly Used Defense Sites program was created by Congress under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program to clean up environmental hazards at formerly owned, leased, possessed or used Department of Defense properties. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the FUDS Program and the USACE Los Angeles District manages the East Elliott FUDS projects.
For additional information about this project please contact the US Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, Public Affairs Office at 213-479-8698 or gregory.a.fuderer@usace.army.mil
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