Every week Next republishes an article from City Manager Oliver Chi’s weekly newsletter.
Some of the most important infrastructure work is the kind nobody sees, as evidenced by the work our Architecture Services Division and Airport Team just completed to permanently remove four underground aviation-fuel storage tanks at the Airport!
The infrastructure that we removed included three 12,000-gallon tanks, and one 500-gallon tank, all of which were installed in the mid-1980s within the Atlantic Aviation operating area.
Testing had shown that the nearly 40-year-old system no longer met California Health and Safety Code requirements, and in April 2025, the State Water Resources Control Board determined that the underground tanks had to either be upgraded to current standards or be permanently closed.
After evaluating retrofit options in light of the pending closure of the Airport, our team concluded that upgrading systems that were so old could compromise the integrity of the underground tanks.
Accordingly, we chose full decommissioning and removal over the easier path of
abandoning it in place.
To accomplish that task, our work included securing an Underground Storage Tank System Closure Permit from the Santa Monica Fire Department; closing the system; pulling all four tanks out of the ground; and then fully remediating the surrounding soil as needed.
Beyond keeping the Airport safe and compliant today, this work also helps prepare us for the future as we plan for Airport’s closure ahead. Every piece of legacy aviation infrastructure that we retire the right way now is one less issue that we’ll have to deal with later!
Just massive thanks and kudos to our Architecture Services Division and Airport Team for the way in which they thoughtfully planned and executed this important work!
