UDSKRIFT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.479
Hi, folks.
00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.919
This is your host, Matt Silver.
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.000
Today we have a special episode.
00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:11.679
We want to talk about the Garden Grove chemical plant near disaster that almost occurred, but nonetheless impacted some 50,000 people.
00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:20.079
You know, we were recording an episode with our guest Adam Atamian on zoning and where it came from and how it came about and why we should care.
00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.679
And then this disaster hits.
00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:26.480
And it doesn't just hit, it hits down the road from where we are right now talking to you.
00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.079
Sivica is only located a couple miles up the road from where that occurred.
00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:44.240
So while we had Adam here, we thought we'd talk about that incident and how zoning plays a role in either making a potential disaster smaller and better, or potentially playing into its impact in a bad way.
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.320
So stay tuned for this special episode of the True Code Podcast.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:58.719
From Civic Allah, this is TrueCode, a podcast explaining what code enforcement is, why our communities need it, and why you should care.
00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.640
From firsthand experiences, we discuss quality of life issues to reveal the truth about code enforcement.
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:13.200
So here's my guest.
00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:21.280
I have Adam Atamian, who's a longtime planner, community development director, oversees code enforcement, a variety of other departments in his city.
00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:26.480
Adam, while I've got you here, uh what about this Garden Grove near chemical explosion?
00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:29.599
It's still a disaster, but like thankfully the tanks didn't explode.
00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:30.959
What do you know about this?
00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:37.200
What's your feeling on how, you know, the zoning impacts this and how the disaster was created?
00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.959
Terrible, unfortunate situation for those residents to be in.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:48.959
You know, looking at this from a city planning perspective, seems only reasonable that this type of facility would have potential issue at some point in its lifespan.
00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.879
It was like a chemical manufacturing and storage facility, right?
00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:56.400
Like literally giant, yeah, huge drums that hold thousands.
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:02.159
I believe it was 92,000 gallons of this particular flammable material.
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.640
And it was a a safety valve, it failed.
00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:14.240
Uh it wasn't necessarily a problem with the tank, I don't believe, but it did start to release vapor and started heating up, which caused a potential blast zone.
00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.919
There were 50,000 people in an area that that surprised me.
00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.599
Meaning it was like a small, dense area next to this chemical plant.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000
Very small, very compact, and very tightly knit into a labyrinth of industrial uses.
00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:31.199
But also not that far away from the Seal Beach Armory.
00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:38.719
You know, these residents are kind of pigeonholed around some potentially impactful uses that in today's world we would not zone in the same way.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:42.159
Meaning we've got like dense apartment complexes.
00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:50.400
Are they set up and zoned to a butt, like literally adjacent to that chemical plant, or is there some kind of barrier between them?
00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:57.759
I don't know the specific land uses around the chemical plant, but I know it's an entirely urbanized area.
00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:05.840
So there's either a buffer of other residential properties or other industrial properties, or the residential goes right up to the chemical plant.
00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:12.639
So you've got industrial and then it may be different kinds of industrial, just the chemical plant, but then you've got residential abutting it.
00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:30.400
And this is kind of one of the reasons that zoning laws exist is to generally try to separate residential and industrial because you want to be able to drive to your job at the industrial plant, but you don't necessarily want to be living next to it because of, well, potential explosions, noxious odors, fires.
00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:31.360
Absolutely.
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:34.960
And this isn't a discussion of what's next door to the plant.
00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:41.280
The blast zone that was established on these evacuation maps extended like a mile away.
00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.479
So we're not talking about, you know, people who live next door.
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:50.719
And this wasn't entirely an evacuation due to the exposure to airborne chemicals.
00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.039
This was an evacuation that was largely driven by the blast itself.
00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:57.599
The explode, we're talking about like an explosion zone.
00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:58.319
Absolutely.
00:03:58.479 --> 00:03:58.800
Wow.
00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:08.080
You know, looking at the blast zone, I think that this had the potential to probably knock out windows as far as two miles away, that kind of explosion.
00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.120
And within that blast zone, which here is about a mile, there were 50,000 people living.
00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.039
50,000 people, absolutely.
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:22.959
And so you look at this as a planning issue and you go, well, oh, in today's world, we would not zone residential near this plan.
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.199
And I don't know which came first.
00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:25.759
Right.
00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:31.199
Were they there already and the city is zoning later on, or was that zoned
Load full transcript
intentionally the way it was?
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:31.839
Exactly.
00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.160
Very easy to Monday morning quarterback, of course.
00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.959
You know, this obviously was not the intention of that city.
00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.160
And things have a tendency to change over time.
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:49.600
So this is an aerospace business that may have started off a little bit differently, and over time it was just like, oh, yeah, we need this type of storage and that type of storage, and it morphs over time.
00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:54.480
But in looking at this incident, there's other aspects of planning that come into play here.
00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:04.240
So in reviewing the early reporting on this, you know, watching the city council meeting, comments that were given shortly after the incident, which itself was an explosive meeting, so to speak.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:05.120
Absolutely.
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:12.079
Very it was clear that there's always going to be a need for other types of facilities that can support emergency response.
00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:17.839
It was lucky that, you know, in this area, you've got a number of community colleges that have large auditoriums.
00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:23.279
Golden West, you know, was able to open their doors to allow evacuees to spend some time there.
00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.600
50,000 people on the drop of a hat had to go somewhere.
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.800
Were there enough emergency shelters for people to go?
00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.839
Yeah, that's something that is definitely going to be investigated in the after action reports.
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:44.959
You know, I can tell you this was a very quick incident going from its initial indications of danger to when evacuation orders were given.
00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.839
50,000 people, that is a lot of people to move in a very short amount of time.
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:57.600
So, you know, I don't know what the specific steps were taken as far as acquiring and setting up shelters, but that can take some time.
00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:58.560
But they move quick.
00:05:58.720 --> 00:05:59.759
They seem like they move quick.
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:09.519
I mean, I don't do have anything to do with the city of Garden Grove, neither do you, but just from a third person perspective, things moved about as quick as they could in that scenario.
00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:17.920
But perhaps the zoning in that circumstance, where we are now, is not where they would have wanted it to be when they originally zoned it.
00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:23.439
And you raise a great point, by the way, about it may have started out as a different kind of use, become more volatile over time.
00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:28.000
My mind immediately goes to Hindu Beach, Coronado Islands.
00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.879
Some of these other places have nuclear weapon facilities.
00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.680
They store nuclear weapons in these places.
00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.319
And as my dad would say, it's a positive to live nearby because you're vaporized, you don't even know what happened.
00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:42.879
It's also uh a negative because you're vaporized and you don't even know what happened.
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:45.759
And so interesting little yeah, side bit there.
00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.959
Thank you for your uh your thoughts and your expertise on that, Adam.
00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:50.480
Thank you everybody for joining us.
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.319
Stay tuned for our next episode.
00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.879
Catch us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and of course our website, civicalaw.com.
00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.560
Thank you for joining us today.
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.120
Thank you for joining us on this journey.
00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:09.040
If you enjoyed what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, follow, rate, and review us wherever you're listening right now.
00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:10.560
Until next time.