County Likely to Ease Business Ride-Share Rule

Over the objections of environmentalists, the Board of Supervisors today is expected to loosen smog requirements for the county’s medium-sized businesses.

The board will vote on proposals to allow companies with between 50 and 99 workers to participate in a less restrictive and less costly program than the county’s tough ride-sharing program.

One proposal, recommended by the Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board, would permanently allow these businesses to pay only an annual emission-reduction fee amounting to about $50 per employee--about $250 a year less per worker than ride-sharing.

The fee would go toward buying old exhaust-spewing cars and getting them off the road.

Another plan, proposed by Supervisors Susan K. Lacey and Vicky Howard, would provide the same relief to the companies but only through 1997. The alternative plan also would continue to exempt 17 larger companies from complying with the mandate. These companies have more than 100 employees, but fewer than 50 of them report to work during the morning rush hour.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently informed the Air Pollution Control Board that the county could not give a permanent break to medium-size businesses unless it removed the 17 large businesses’ exemption.

If the supervisors approve the temporary plan, the 17 large companies would still be exempt “indefinitely, unless the EPA came up with a new ruling,” said Ed Webster, Lacey’s administrative assistant.

Neither the permanent nor temporary plan is acceptable to environmentalists. “Fifty dollars will not buy an emission reduction of any significance,” said Neil Moyer of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition. “The board is not fixing the problem--they’re just avoiding it.”

But others feel the smog rules have to be changed. “It’s absolutely essential in these economic times to do everything possible to help business stay in the county and help new business come here,” said Michael Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn.

The ride-sharing program, called Rule 210, was designed to shift responsibility for transportation management from the public to the private sector. It requires employers to have at least five employees for every four cars arriving at work in the morning. By 1998, the standard will be raised to three people for every two cars.

“The temporary plan has the disadvantage of bringing these companies back in (Rule 210) in 1998, when they’ll immediately have to have a high-performance” average vehicle ridership, said Chris Frank, a rules engineer with the Air Pollution Control Board. “It won’t be an easy adjustment.”

At today’s board meeting, the supervisors will also consider a plan by Supervisor John K. Flynn to exempt all medium-size businesses from the anti-smog rule without charging them anything, an option opposed by the Air Pollution Control Board.

Flynn said he doesn’t know how he will vote but is opposed to charging mid-size businesses because it is not cost-effective.

Several officials said they expect some plan to be approved today. With Howard out of town on family business, approval will require at least a 3-1 vote. If a split seems likely, the supervisors would probably postpone the vote, said Ritch Wells, Howard’s administrative assistant.