SANTA PAULA : Hazardous Material Inspections Reduced

The Santa Paula City Council has agreed to modify the city’s hazardous materials program, waiving an annual inspection of stored hazardous materials that business owners had charged was unneeded and expensive.

In a decision that council members termed a compromise with the city’s business community, the council ruled Tuesday that 130 Santa Paula companies will have to pay for a full inspection only once every three years.

Fees for a full inspection will range from $109 for firms that store the smallest amounts of hazardous material, to $375 for the largest companies.

In the second and third years, the companies will be required to submit inventory forms listing hazardous materials, and pay a fee of $30 to $75.

As initially proposed by the city Fire Department, businesses would have been inspected every year and charged a full fee. The adopted compromise will save companies up to $600 during each three-year inspection cycle.

Santa Paula businessmen Jim McCoy and Roger Harvey, who pressed for the reduced inspection schedule, lost a bid for the city to impose a flat fee instead of a graduated fee based on the amount of stored hazardous substances.

The inspection plan was adopted in 1988 to comply with state regulations, which require cities to furnish updated hazardous materials plans every three years. The city first began collecting inspection fees last year.