SANTA CLARITA : Firm to Stay Open Amid Safety Check
A Santa Clarita company that refines chlorine gas into swimming pool cleaner and other disinfectants will be allowed to remain open while the city determines whether it violates safety and zoning regulations.
On Oct. 8, the city had ordered HASA Inc. to immediately cease operations, contending that the company poses a health and safety risk and has operated for nearly a year without a zoning permit.
But officials rescinded the closure order earlier this week after meeting with HASA representatives, who argued that the company has a vested right to operate despite the expiration of the zoning permit and does so safely.
“We need a better review of the facts,” City Atty. Carl Newton said Friday.
After a routine inspection this summer, the Los Angeles County Fire Department ordered HASA to house a 90-ton chlorine tank in a hermetically sealed, $200,000 building that would contain any leaks, said Assistant Fire Chief Gary Nelson.
The tank, located off San Fernando Road on HASA’s three-acre site, currently stands in the open.
Company officials have offered instead to cover the tank with a $50,000 hood, and the proposal is being reviewed by the Fire Department, Nelson said.
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