Chollas Creek residents learned Thursday about efforts by state officials and Market Creek Plaza to contain cancer-causing tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene (commonly known as PCE and TCE) and other dangerous chemicals in the soil beneath the plaza and part of the 149-unit Euclid Terrace Apartments.
Hosted by Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson at Lincoln High School, the town hall brought officials from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and representatives from Market Creek Plaza, home to major grocery store chain Food 4 Less that reported dangerous levels of TCE in soil vapor in 2024.
Langley Fleet Aerospace Facility, now Magellan Aerospace, occupied the area from the 1950s through the 1990s and used chemicals like TCE, which contaminated the soil.
Exposure to PCE and TCE can cause kidney, bladder and breast cancers, according to studies by the U.S Environment Protection Agency. TCE can also cause defects in the central nervous system such as dizziness, headaches and facial numbness.
“As a medical doctor, this is extremely concerning for me,” Sen. Weber Pierson told the dozens of community members in attendance. “The health of the communities that I represent is my top priority.”
A DTSC representative said Euclid Terrace Apartments contamination fell 90% to 95% by the latest testing in June, and that DTSC worked with building management to move tenants out of the contaminated apartments in the three northernmost buildings, near Food 4 Less. She said Magellan Aerospace will continue treating the apartments, including adding air-treatment units, and monitoring the site. A sub-slab depressurization system is being considered for the apartments, she said.
Selemawit Tessema who lives in the apartments with her three children and shops at Food 4 Less is very worried about the contamination. “We now filter our home water before consuming because of this issue,” Tessema said. She said there is not much she can do aside from filtering the water.
Reacting to a DTSC official’s recommendation that residents wash fruits and vegetables bought at Food 4 Less, Tessema questioned what water she could use to wash them when she doesn’t feel safe using the water in her apartment for fear of TCE contamination. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
Market Creek Plaza consultant Tracy Craig said indoor TCE contamination has fallen 40% to 80% at Food 4 Less after crews sealed cracks and drains, upgraded heating and cooling systems and added carbon filters and air-treatment units. She said contamination levels are still being monitored.
“Market Creek Plaza did not cause the contamination,” Craig said. She said the plaza has been working with DTSC to fix the problem because Food 4 Less is a “huge community asset.”
The DTSC representative said a sub-slab depressurization system will be installed beneath Food 4 Less in early 2027 to intercept and vent TCE and other dangerous chemicals that could be seeping up from the soil into the building’s indoor space.
Marina Ibaria, a regular Food 4 Less shopper, said she is concerned about the safety of unpackaged foods that sit on the shelves for a long time.
“Just covering some cracks on the floor is not gonna stop the contamination from going up,” Ibaria said. She suggested that Market Creek Plaza could refloor Food 4 Less or tear down the building to clear out the contaminated soil and rebuild it.
How long has the contamination been at the Food 4 Less?
Officials said TCE was detected at the grocery store in 2024, prompting DTSC to issue Proposition 65 Notice informing city and county officials the contaminant could be “harmful to people.” But inewsource reported Market Creek Plaza had discovered the contamination between 2019 and 2020 when it conducted air and soil vapor tests.
The contamination was only discovered decades after Magellan Aerospace company had closed the facility because the “technology was not quite the same to take the samples at that time,” a DTSC official said.
In 2025, DTSC issued a similar notice to county and city leaders about dangerous TCE levels at some of the Euclid Terrace Apartments. Some residents were moved to uncontaminated apartments in 2026, after indoor testing found contamination in the northernmost apartments.
The most recent notice came in February 2026, when DTSC ordered Magellan Aerospace and Market Creek Plaza to clean up the contaminated sites. Magellan Aerospace did not attend the town hall at Lincoln High School because it is going through bankruptcy, Sen. Weber Pierson said.
For now, no resident has reported symptoms caused by exposure to TCE and the other chemicals. Sen. Weber Pierson urged the residents to consult their primary care doctors and report any diseases related to the contaminants to her office.
“We will work very closely with the state and also with the city to ensure that this situation is being remedied and that people are continuing to get information and education on this,” she said.
