Worm Concern Plans to Defy County Order to Halt Composting : Recycling: Company says it will fight in court to keep operating a Simi Valley area green waste facility that residents say causes dust, odor and noise.

In defiance of a Ventura County order to halt all composting operations by today, the Worm Concern near Simi Valley plans to continue accepting green waste and fight the county in court, company officials said Wednesday.

Facing up to $10,000 a day in fines, the company has advised customers that it will remain open.

County officials, however, are equally adamant about making sure the facility is closed, as are nearby residents, who have complained about odor, dust and noise.

“The (cease-and-desist) order will be enforced,” said assistant county counsel William Moritz. “And my understanding is that it will be sooner rather than later.”

John Bowman, an environmental attorney who represents the Worm Concern, said he is not surprised by the county’s position.

“The county has shown no serious interest in resolving this administratively,” Bowman said. “They seem only interested in putting (the Worm Concern) out of business.”

County officials denied that charge.

“They have been given 18 months to get a permit and they have not made serious progress in doing that,” Moritz said. “This is not out of the blue.”

Bowman and Moritz have had a heated exchange of letters since the county’s environmental health division issued a cease-and-desist order on Oct. 28. The order also demands that the company vacate the site entirely by the end of the year.

In the latest letter sent to the county Monday, Bowman pledged a court battle if the county tries to enforce the order. The Worm Concern has also threatened to sue for damages if the company is put out of business or hurt financially.

The facility has been operating without a permit since the spring of 1992 on about 20 acres of land off Tierra Rejada Road near Simi Valley. During that time, neighbors have repeatedly complained that the business does not belong near a residential area. A group of homeowners has hired an attorney and a political consultant. They also have lobbied the county to shut down the business and threatened a class-action suit.

At the same time that neighbors were pushing to close the Tierra Rejada site, county officials were reviewing an environmental assessment submitted by the Worm Concern aimed at getting a conditional-use permit.

Ruling that the material was incomplete, the county said the operation should be considered a solid-waste dump and be subject to the same type of extensive environmental review for such facilities.

But the Worm Concern, which uses worms to recycle about 100 tons of yard trimmings a day into fertilizer, argued that the operation was not a dump and would even be exempt from such permit requirements in pending state legislation.

“We’re puzzled at the county’s unwillingness to work with us,” Bowman said. “This is clearly not a dump. In fact, this is a beneficial operation that helps the county and cities meet their recycling goals.”

Most of the material accepted at the facility comes from a curbside green waste recycling program set up for the city of Simi Valley and the surrounding area. Similar programs, set to begin in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark over the next few years, would more than double the amount of material they accept.

If the Worm Concern is forced to stop taking green waste altogether, it could jeopardize the recycling efforts of those east county cities that must meet a state-imposed limit on the amount of trash they send to area landfills, some Simi Valley officials said.

State law requires that cities reduce by 25% the amount of trash they send to landfills by 1995, and 50% by 2000. Because green waste makes up as much as 25% of the trash sent to landfills, recycling that waste would go a long way toward helping cities meet the state requirements.

G.I. Rubbish and Anderson Rubbish, which haul curbside green waste to Worm Concern, have pledged to take the material somewhere else if the county enforces the cease-and-desist order, said Joe Hreha, Simi Valley’s deputy director of environmental services. Both haulers are limited partners in Worm Concern and each has a 10% interest in the company.

Worm Concern may receive another blow if the owners that lease the property to Worm Concern succumb to pressure from irate neighbors and evict the company, the attorney for the neighbors said.

Meanwhile, the Worm Concern is continuing its search for a site away from homeowners, a move company officials hope could also ease the pressure from the county, said Pete Racicot, an environmental consultant working for the company.

“This is not an illegal activity,” Racicot said. “All we’re doing is worm farming. It’s not a danger to anybody. I don’t know why the county isn’t working to help this succeed, because this sort of operation could really help them meet their recycling needs.”