perhaps it shouldn’t surprise me that developers are trying to get the city to clean up the contaminated site of the former Humboldt Road burn dump, a desolate fenced-off wasteland where the soil is a toxic blend of lead and other pollutants. located on the edge of town, where the yellow-grass slopes of the foothills flatten out and cattle graze beneath oak trees, the old dump was put into use by salvage companies in the 1890s and closed in 1965. but the edge of the city is creeping ever closer, warning: no trespassing, the leaded ground is a toxic fruit waiting to be harvested. developers insist no housing would be built over contaminated land even following the cleanup, they suggest the toxic site could be safely covered by a parking lot instead.