Placer County to remove lead from former gun range near Lincoln housing developments
Placer County supervisors have approved a plan to clean up a former law enforcement gun range in Lincoln, located across from the Sun City Lincoln Hills 55+ community. The $5.1 million project will remove lead and other debris and restore the soil to meet residential environmental standards.
Roughly $750,000 has already been spent on assessments. The plan includes a $3.7 million budget for contracted labor and work is expected to begin later this summer, once a contract is awarded. The plan is expected to be completed by the fall.
The board previously selected the residential cleanup option in 2022, following a presentation by Eric Findley, the county's real estate services manager. That method, which involves off-site storage of contaminated soil, was the most expensive of the proposed approaches but was recommended due to its long-term benefits.
'Cleaning up to residential standards and hauling it off-site is the most conservative (option) in the sense that it would provide the most flexibility for future use of the property,' Findley told the board. 'It would increase the value of the property and I think it would ... lessen the chance of litigation in the future.'
The pricing estimates were developed by Sacramento-based Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group, which also prepared the project for contract bidding. The board approved a $400,000 contract extension for the firm as part of Tuesday's action.
The county has owned the site since 1968. The gun and skeet ranges, once used to train police officers, have been closed since 1999. In addition to lead, the county's staff report notes the site includes bullet and clay pigeon debris that must be removed to meet residential standards.
Supervisors Cindy Gustafson and Shanti Landon commended the Department of Facilities Management's work on the project, which has gone back to at least 2017.
Landon, whose district includes Lincoln, commended the staff's efforts:
'It's very important for the Lincoln community that this remediation project move forward to ensure this site is safe for future generations,' said Landon, whose district includes Lincoln.
Before Placer County developed the site into a police training range, it was home to a Cold War-era Titan-1 missile base. Built in 1962, the facility included three 160-foot-deep silos and miles of tunnels, which were later flooded and sealed. But the base also left behind trichloroethylene, or TCE, a cancer-causing solvent used to clean missile oxygen systems.
The chemical was first discovered in the area's groundwater in 1991, according to previous Bee reporting. A Placer grand jury report last year found that 'nothing substantial' had been done to remove it and warned that the contamination plume had advanced roughly 150 feet toward Sun City Lincoln Hills.
While the TCE leaks worried some residents of the Sun City development, data collected in July 2024 showed that monitoring probes near the closest homes show no signs of TCE.
The Army Corps of Engineers resumed its feasibility study in 2018 and estimates a $26 million remediation effort could begin in 2027. The city of Lincoln supports an accelerated timeline, citing ongoing housing development nearby, according to previous Bee reporting.
According to the county's development activity map, the area around the former range is rapidly developing.
To the north is the under-construction, 233-unit Hidden Hills project. South of the site is the approved Waterfront project, which will include 271 rental units and 50,000 square feet of commercial space. Nearby is the proposed Village 1 Specific Plan, which has been in the works since 2013 and envisions more than 5,000 residential units, parks, mixed-use areas, and a golf course.
Also on Tuesday, supervisors adopted a 2025-29 housing action plan with goals to increase the county's supply of 'achievable housing,' preserve housing stability and secure long-term funding. The plan sets a target of 1,300 new housing units by mid-2029.
According to the county, Placer's median home price is about $665,000, while the median household income is $108,000.
'We incorporated a lot of great feedback from the board into our updated plan to consider potential community impacts and outcomes across Placer's unique regions,' Housing Manager Nikki Streegan said in a statement. 'This plan advances broad priorities like economic development, infrastructure and strategic collaboration with our partners from the state and throughout the region.'
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