Catalina Resigned to Sharing Air District With Smoggy L.A.

Despite boasts of clean air, some Avalon city officials and merchants appear to have resigned themselves to the fact that Santa Catalina Island will remain a part of the pollution-laden South Coast Air Quality Management District.

City officials had joined the Chamber of Commerce in seeking to have the island excluded from the district--which includes the smog-shrouded Los Angeles Basin--claiming that the island air is clean and does not contribute to mainland pollution problems.

The request for exclusion was prompted by the district’s new evaluation and permit fees for small, pollution-emitting equipment such as charcoal broilers at restaurants and small electric generators that previously did not require permits. The evaluation fees can cost business owners up to $5,000 for each piece of equipment.

Asst. City Manager Pete Woolson and chamber Executive Director Wayne Griffin are advising business owners to hold off paying the evaluation fees until after a Jan. 5 meeting of the district’s governing board, when a reduction in the evaluation fees may be approved.

They are, however, recommending that the owners pay the application fees, which are much less costly.

“We’ve backed off on our push a little bit,” Griffin said. But, he added, “We still maintain that if the statistics were known, Catalina’s air would meet federal air quality standards.”

AQMD officials and islanders say they have been working together to discuss concerns over the new fees. Businesses must pay an application fee to cover administrative costs of processing the application, an evaluation fee when an inspector measures the amount of pollutants on equipment, and a an annual so-called permit fee for the right to operate the equipment.

At a recent meeting in Avalon between AQMD officials, city officials and merchants, the AQMD explained that every area of the state--including Catalina Island--must be in one of California’s 41 air quality districts and that the districts were mandated nationwide by the federal government.

“Once that was explained to us--and it makes sense--our push for exclusion sort of went on the back burner,” Griffin said.

The complaints were sparked last fall, when AQMD officials notified small-business owners and companies across Los Angeles County of new fees to apply for permits and to have equipment evaluated by AQMD engineers.

The fee changes were adopted by the district’s governing board in June, 1988. The equipment--for which permits previously were not required--includes restaurant charcoal broilers, dry cleaning equipment, bakery ovens and small electric generators.

AQMD officials said they mailed more than 200,000 notices to business owners advising them of the changes, set up a telephone hot line for questions and established a one-year time frame, until June, 1989, during which companies could pay a reduced evaluation fee, which would be $125 for most equipment.

Nevertheless, word apparently was slow in reaching some small companies--and the news was not well-received by some, AQMD officials said.

In Avalon, for example, some business owners, backed by the Chamber of Commerce, objected to being charged the same fees as companies on the mainland.

But the evaluation and permit fees may be reduced across the board on the recommendation of AQMD staff members.

AQMD officials said complaints from small-business owners throughout the district about the new fees prompted a recommendation from the AQMD staff that the governing board re-examine permit and evaluation fees at its January meeting.

“Not only did Catalina (businesses) have concerns (about the fees), but so did other businesses,” said LaRonda Bowen, a senior public information specialist who helps owners of small businesses comply with AQMD regulations. “The district recognizes there might be an inequity there, and if so, let’s correct it.”

One Avalon business owner said he had been assessed evaluation fees of $5,000 each for two air compressors and a pump. A city official said the city would be charged a total of more than $35,000 for evaluation of its equipment, including several electric generators.

In a letter to the board recommending a hearing on the issues, AQMD executive officer James M. Lents said many small businesses “are potentially facing fees of $10,000 to $50,000 for equipment which had been properly installed prior to June 3, 1988, without a permit from the district. . . . These fees can create an undue hardship and may be viewed as punitive.”

Under the fee-schedule amendment to be considered in January, the maximum fee for evaluating most of the newly permitted equipment would be $150, and an annual operating permit fee would be no more than $87.

At the meeting in Avalon, islanders also requested that the AQMD arrange tests to monitor the quality of Catalina’s air. AQMD spokeswoman Bowen said the district is investigating the cost of setting up an air-monitoring station on the island.

Mayor Hugh T. (Bud) Smith said that islanders are working amicably with AQMD officials and that the results of air monitoring on the island could vindicate assertions that Catalina’s air is clean.

“Just because we’re in Los Angeles County doesn’t mean we have to conform to the (air quality) standards of Los Angeles County,” he said.