The Coast News, September 5, 2014

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Sept. 5, 2014

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The dilapidated former 76 gas station on Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas remains in limbo after almost 20 years of vacancy. Photo by Tony

Cagala

A New Season Begins The San Diego Chargers are heading into the regular season having made it through weeks of training camps drills and preseason games. They wrapped up their preseason finale with a 12-9 win against the Arizona Cardinals, the same team they’ll face off against on Monday Night Football Sept. 8 in Arizona. Columnist Jay Paris talks with the Chargers’ General Manager Tom Telesco about the moves he’s made with the team on page A12. Above: Cardinals wide receiver Walt Powell is chased down by Chargers’ safety Adrian Philips during the final preseason game. Photo by Bill Reilly

Decommissioning of San Onofre one step closer By Ellen Wright

REGION — The San Onofore Nuclear Generating Station has been shut down for more than a year now, but the decommissioning process has a long ways to go. The Community Engagement Panel met on Aug. 28 to update the public on the decommissioning process. The diverse group of stakeholders cannot make any decisions, but serves as an intermediary and informant between the public and Southern California Edison (SCE), which owns the plant. Tom Palmisano, SCE San Onofre Site vice president, told the panel the planning phase is coming closer to an end, which means the physical decommissioning phase is closer to beginning. “In the planning phase, we’re not authorized to conduct major de- Ralph Howard, a current plant operator, excommissioning activities, like the re- presses his concern that local help is hired moval of radioactive materials,” said during the decommissioning process. Photo by Ellen Wright Palmisano.

He told the panel the Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activity Report is almost done and will be submitted to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) within the coming weeks. The report summarizes the decommissioning plans and costs. He estimated the decommissioning phase would begin in early 2016. Chris Thompson, SCE vice president of Decommissioning, told the panel the estimated cost to decommission the plant is $4.4 billion. Currently, Edison has $4.1 billion set aside, and with wise investments, Thompson said, the funds should appreciate enough to cover the entire cost of decommissioning. Any excess funds will be returned to customers when the decommissioning is complete, which officials estimated, will be in about 20 years. Once the report is submitted, the NRC reviews the 50-page document TURN TO DECOMMISSION ON A18

‘Eyesore’ property nearing RANCHO its 20th year of vacancy SFNEWS By Aaron Burgin

ENCINITAS — To say the vacant gas station on Santa Fe Drive stands out like a sore thumb would be a gross understatement. Sandwiched between a shimmering new Scripps hospital expansion and a renovated Vons shopping center, the former 76 gas station — cloaked in a translucent green tarp wrapped around a chain link fence — is coming up on its 20th year of vacancy. At times, the green tarp flags in the wind, or the chain link fence falls down, exposing the eyesore to passersby. The fence line has become magnet for the homeless over the years. The lot has been a burden on city code enforcement, which has numerous times admonished the property owner about the state of the property, only to see it all in disrepair once more. “It’s definitely an eyesore,” Councilwoman Teresa Barth said. “I think

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everyone has been waiting for some good news, but it just hasn’t happened as of now.” The property recently achieved a long-awaited milestone, but it also suffered a setback that almost ensures the fallow property will main in its unoccupied state for a while longer, the Rancho Santa Fe man who owns the property said. Bruce Hochman purchased the property at 411 Santa Fe Drive from Robert Hall and the Elisse Trust in 2008. He originally wanted to build a two-story medical-office building there — and received approval for a 10,000-square-foot one in June 2013 — but when the market for the building turned sour, he leased the property to JPMorgan Chase Bank. The banking giant planned on building a branch there and secured approval for the plans of a 3,475-square-foot branch TURN TO GAS STATION ON A14


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