Simi Valley Residents Gathering Signatures for Initiative on Toxics

Simi Valley residents who complained last summer about fumes from a local spa and bathtub manufacturer have joined backers of a failed traffic-control measure in sponsoring an initiative on storage of hazardous materials.

The initiative would make the city responsible for regulating the storage and has touched off a debate in this eastern Ventura County city.

Some city and county officials say the measure is unnecessary and potentially expensive because it would duplicate existing programs. Its sponsors say cost should not be a factor where the health and safety of residents is concerned.

“We want local control almost no matter what it costs, although we think the program would pay for itself, because you can’t attach a price to the life of a child killed by chemical damage,” said Ann Singleton, 36, a resident of a housing development near Moreland and Madera roads. The neighborhood is 300 feet east of Hydro Systems, the spa and bathtub manufacturer that last summer emitted styrene vapors while making its fiberglass products.

City Program

Singleton said the initiative would require the city to establish a program to regulate the use and storage of hazardous materials by local businesses. It would be funded by fees levied on the businesses.

Sponsors have to collect 6,667 signatures, or 15% of the city’s registered voters, by March 20 to put the initiative on a special elections ballot in July, City Clerk Alice Redondo said.

But local officials said state law prohibits the city from assuming responsibility for monitoring hazardous materials without obtaining permission from the Ventura County Fire Protection District, which regulates toxic materials.

“The Fire Department and the city are doing their jobs. Hydro Systems was an exception, and we’ve learned from that,” Mayor Gregory A. Stratton said. “This initiative would just duplicate existing efforts.”

Neighbors began complaining soon after Hydro Systems opened last year that styrene odors emitted by the firm were making them nauseated and causing respiratory problems. Styrene is listed by federal and state environmental agencies as a hazardous material because, above certain levels, it can cause respiratory problems, severe headaches and nausea, said Greg Smith, a health specialist with the Ventura County Environmental Health Department.

Hydro Systems’ emissions were below the level the agencies declare unsafe, Smith said. But he said the odor can be detected at an emission level 50 times less than what is presumed dangerous. Residents appealed to the City Council in July to close the company for violating a city ordinance that prohibits “industries in the light-industrial zone from producing obnoxious odors.” In August, the City Council ordered Hydro Systems to install a filtering system to eliminate the fumes.

Singleton said no odors have been emitted since the company installed the filters. But she said the initiative, which would shift control over toxic materials from the county to the city, is necessary to prevent similar incidents.

Disclosure Provision

Under a 1986 state law, the county Fire Department requires businesses that store even small quantities of hazardous materials to submit papers detailing where the materials are stored, said Bob Holaway, deputy chief of the Ventura County Fire Protection District, which includes the city of Simi Valley.

The Fire Department uses the information in case of toxic spills or fires, he said. It pays for the program by charging businesses inspection fees ranging from $245 to $300, Holaway said. Additional fees are levied if firefighters have to spend more than 4 hours inspecting a company, he said.

State law also mandates that the public be allowed access to the information filed by businesses, except for trade secrets used in manufacturing processes and maps showing where chemicals are stored, Holaway said.

Sponsors of the initiative have complained that city residents have to travel about 25 miles to Fire Department headquarters in Camarillo to obtain copies of the plans.

Unlikely to Agree

Holaway said the Fire Department is not likely to grant the city permission to take over the regulatory program if the initiative passes. About 1,300 businesses in the fire district, 461 of which are in Simi Valley, have filed such papers with the county since 1986, he said.

“Simi Valley represents more than a third of the businesses in our program,” Holaway said. “If the city took over regulating them, we’d be left sitting there with the personnel and equipment we got for the program, and no income.”

But initiative sponsor Paul La Bonte, who co-authored Measure C, a traffic-control initiative opposed by the City Council and defeated by voters Nov. 8, said the Hydro Systems incident illustrates the need for local regulation of hazardous materials.

The company had been issued an operating permit by city planners, who did not check with the Fire Department or the county pollution control district, the principal government agency that regulates industrial emissions, said Dick Baldwin, the district’s director.

Not Required

Cities in Ventura County are not required to check with the district before approving tenants of industrial parks. But after fumes emitted by the company triggered an outcry by residents, the City Council established an ad-hoc committee to review permitting procedures with an eye to improving coordination among the various agencies.

“We can make the system work without adding another layer of bureaucracy,” Stratton said. “I’m sure there are people involved in this issue who think the initiative is the right solution, but there are those who are in it only to embarrass the city and leverage themselves into public office.”

La Bonte, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in the November election, denied using the issue to gain a political foothold. He said the initiative is necessary because the City Council “wouldn’t do anything about this unless we got out the cattle prod.”