Company Plans $100-Million Recycling Center : Trash: The complex would be located a few miles away from city of Oxnard’s proposed plant.

Ventura County’s trash wars heated up again Monday as a Ventura company said it would go head-to-head with the city of Oxnard in competing for the county’s recyclable rubbish.

Ignoring critics who say there may not be enough trash to go around, Gold Coast Recycling announced it will build a $100-million recycling facility a few miles away from another state-of-the-art plant planned by the city of Oxnard.

Gold Coast’s 80,000-square-foot facility, proposed for 19 1/2 acres of farmland off Victoria Avenue near the Ventura Freeway, could take in up to 1,500 tons of garbage per day from cities across the county.

As envisioned, the plant would share the property with offices for environmental-oriented firms, a natural gas fueling station, and a cluster of manufacturers who will turn the recyclables into consumer products.

Gold Coast officials originally hoped to locate its recycling plant in Camarillo, but residents rejected the idea. For years, Gold Coast and Oxnard officials have been competing to build a recycling plant that would handle most of the county’s trash.

In Oxnard, city officials continue to pursue their own recycling plant. In December, they pledged $20 million for a plant that could sift recyclables from 2,777 tons of trash each day. The Oxnard facility is slated to open in about a year, and Oxnard-based BLT Enterprises will run it.

“I’m not quite so optimistic as some people that this area can support two (regional) recycling plants,” said Ventura City Councilman Gary Tuttle. “I’m afraid one is going to suffer big time.”

Gold Coast now processes about 400 tons of trash a day at a Ventura facility. Oxnard, in conjunction with BLT, processes about 45 tons of city garbage daily at a temporary recycling site on Oxnard’s Commercial Avenue.

Most of the refuse for both new facilities would come from west Ventura County cities because Simi Valley, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks now send the bulk of their recyclables to east county sorting yards.

Thousand Oaks, however, transports one-third of its residential recyclables and 80% of its commercial recyclables to Gold Coast. Thousand Oaks officials said they are talking to Oxnard officials about shifting their recyclable rubbish to that city’s new plant when it opens in mid-1995.

“I think Oxnard can do a better job, because as a government-owned facility, there will be no property taxes on it, no requirements to pay income taxes,” said Thousand Oaks City Councilman Alex Fiore. “So in theory, they should be able to do the job for less money.”

At a news conference Monday, Gold Coast officials unveiled their proposed facility, saying the plant would move the county a giant step forward in reducing waste headed for the dump.

Gold Coast officials marshaled a host of supportive politicians, including three county supervisors and a dozen city leaders, including six of seven Ventura City Council members.

“I believe that what we are seeing here today is a first step into the future,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said.

Some council members said they planned to exploit the competing recycling plants to save their city money.

“We may put some pressure on Gold Coast to keep our rates down,” Camarillo City Councilman Michael Morgan said. Camarillo now sends its trash to Gold Coast’s facility. “But we’d have to consider any new proposal that comes along. We’d be pound foolish if we didn’t.” *

Roger Campbell, a Fillmore councilman, said he would prefer to use Gold Coast because he favors allowing private business to handle trash and he likes the concept of having on-site manufacturers converting the recyclables into usable products.

Still, he said, he would not let principle stand in the way of a good bargain. “Of course, what I will be looking for is the most inexpensive way for the city to get rid of trash.”

The Gold Coast facility would be located at the corner of Golf Course Drive and Nicolle Street. The proposed Ventura Environmental Business Park, including the manufacturers and other businesses, would be up and running in about three years, officials say. It would employ 250 people, 130 more than at Gold Coast’s operating facility in Ventura.

Recyclables separated by residents at the curb would be hauled to the new plant, where workers would separate newsprint, plastic and other materials before handing them over to on-site manufacturers.

The manufacturers would then convert the recycled items into consumer products. One neighboring business, as outlined in the proposal, would turn used newsprint into material for doors and cabinets.

In contrast, Oxnard’s plant, planned for the southwest corner of Sturgis Road and Del Norte Boulevard, would only separate recyclables, not convert them into other materials. BLT officials, however, say they plan to build such a manufacturing center on a nearby lot, and are trying to line up businesses for such an industrial park.

“I’m trying to figure out why Ventura and Gold Coast are doing this,” said BLT President Bernard Huberman. “We’re in a much better location related to the surrounding use. We’re in a heavy industrial zone--they are in a light industrial zone.

“They are right by the (most congested) on- and off-ramp in the county,” he said, referring to the Victoria Avenue off-ramp of the Ventura Freeway. “It’s again, another bad idea by Gold Coast.”

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Defending their proposed Ventura location, Gold Coast officials say their facility will not bother their neighbors because operations will take place inside a building. They say they plan to help finance construction of an improved Victoria Avenue off-ramp as part of their development agreement with the city.

Don Slack, the facility’s project manager, said he is sure there will be enough garbage in the county to keep both plants going. He added, though, that he is sorry there has to be competition.

“The best solution is for everybody to pool their resources,” he said.