Split Anaheim Council OKs 18-Year Permit for Junkyard

A controversial recycling center and junkyard accused of creating a 50,000-ton pile of potentially toxic waste in the mid-1980s can operate until 2013 without having to obtain new permits.

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Adams Steel, which the city has spent more than $500,000 battling in court in recent years over a series of alleged code violations, persuaded the majority of a bitterly divided City Council this week to extend the firm’s operating permit without requiring periodic reviews.

Company officials contended that without the extended permit it would be impossible for them to make a long-term investment in the recycling firm.

The council voted 3 to 2 to extend the business’s special operating permit during a contentious two-hour debate Tuesday night.

Council members approved the action before they unanimously approved a sweeping redevelopment plan that will guide the future growth commercial and industrial development in northeast Anaheim, where Adams Steel is located.

Under a court order, Adams Steel has until 1998 to completely remove the waste pile, which has been found to contain toxic levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a suspected cancer-causing substance. The pile is composed of metal and foam from shredded automobiles and appliances.

“We have removed about 17,000 tons of the pile and have until 1998 to complete the work,” company president George Adams Jr. said Wednesday. “We are ahead of schedule.”

The pile sits directly over a ground-water basin. Local water officials have said that they have not detected pollution in the basin, but have stated that chemicals introduced into the ground often take years before seeping into the water system.

The company has a long string of citations for city and state code violations, including the illegal discharge of waste water. In 1988, a fire broke out at the site at 3200 E. Frontera Road, causing the evacuation of about 200 people.

In January, 1993, the city filed misdemeanor criminal charges against the operators after they defied orders to shut down in late 1992. A compromise was eventually reached following extensive litigation. Since then, the business has been in compliance with city codes and must pay for regular inspections of the premises by city code enforcement officers.

A furious Mayor Tom Daly blasted his colleagues--none of whom were on the council when the city had its most serious problems with the company--for granting any type of concessions to the business. He and Councilman Tom Tait voted against granting the extended permit.

“The city spent $500,000 of public money to convince Mr. Adams to comply with the law,” Daly said. “This is a step backward.”

But coming down firmly on the side of the recycling business were councilmen Bob Zemel, Lou Lopez and Frank Feldhaus.

“I just can’t see any reason not to give them what they want,” Lopez said. “We’ve got a noose around them--everything possible to keep them under control. Either let them do business or buy them out.”

Daly said the request by Adams Steel for an extended permit--in effect a special recycling designation--during a time when the city was considering a redevelopment plan was “an abuse of the process.”

The council approved a redevelopment plan for a 2,645-acre area that will be able to accommodate 7 million square feet of additional commercial and industrial development and represents a substantial source of potential tax revenue for the city, officials said. The area is bounded by the Riverside and Orange freeways, Orangethorpe Avenue and Imperial Highway.