At nearly 1,000 acres, the property is roughly bounded by Soledad Canyon Road on the north, Golden Valley Road on the east, Railroad Avenue on the west and Circle J Ranch on the south — and it’s central location with respect to city boundary have led many to refer to it as the city’s toxic donut hole.

Decades after the Bermite Company packed up and left town, the cleanup crews left behind say one of the world’s largest bioremediation projects is now nearing completion.

The land, now known as the Whittaker Bermite property, is a total size of about 996 acres, however, about 20-30 acres were used as a munitions factory from the 1930s to about the end of the cold war.

The chemicals used in the on site manufacturing leached into the soil where the factory was, and now the Whittaker Company is paying for the removal Perchlorate, one of the primary ingredients in explosives.

On Tuesday, Officials with CDM Smith, who’ve been contracted to clean up the site, said they expected the cleaning of the soil, which is the first step, to be completed by 2018.

Here’s some information from the city’s website on Whittaker-Bermite, which explains what the city has envisioned for the area:

In May 1995, the Santa Clarita City Council approved the Porta Bella Specific Plan and accompanying Development Agreement, creating vested land use entitlements on the property.

These entitlements allow for the development of 1,244 single family residential units and 1,667 multi-family residential units, as well as 96 acres of commercial and business/office park uses.

The Specific Plan also envisions 407 acres of open space and 42 acres of recreational uses.  Development of the site will require the construction of millions of dollars of public infrastructure (roads, parks, schools, etc.) at the developer’s expense. While the Development Agreement will expire in 2016, the Specific Plan for the property will remain in place indefinitely until it is amended or replaced by another entitlement granted by the City Council in the future, which City staff believes is likely to be proposed prior to redevelopment of the site.