Ventura Council OKs Recycler’s Request to Expand Operations

Despite the objections of some neighboring businesses, the City Council on Monday approved a request by Gold Coast Recycling Inc. to nearly triple its trash and recycling operation off Valentine Road.

The $2.5-million expansion will allow Gold Coast to accept as much as 1,200 tons of garbage a day at its recycling and trash transfer facility at Colt Street and Sperry Avenue.

But a few of the company’s neighbors--and the city of Oxnard, which also spoke against the project--said the expanded facility will be noisy, smelly and increase traffic at one of the city’s most congested intersections, Valentine Road and Victoria Avenue.

They have appealed the Planning Commission’s approval of the project and asked the council Monday night to deny permits that would allow the expansion to proceed.

“We have a noise problem now with the trash trucks going up Sperry Avenue,” said Thomas Olson, an attorney representing Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, which is located across the street from the facility. “The only thing that is going to work is a sound wall.”

Many council members expressed concern during their discussions Monday about loud trash trucks interrupting funeral services. Asked by the council to explain the Planning Commission’s approval of the project, given the noise issue, Commission Chairman Sandy Smith said the proximity of Gold Coast to the 79-year-old cemetery was regrettable but not reason enough to halt the expansion

“Ivy Lawn is probably in a space that was in the middle of nowhere in 1917,” he said. “I guess what it comes down to is do you limit the use of a business because it is next door to [a cemetery].” Among their requests, neighbors urged the council to delay its approval of Gold Coast’s request until a $12-million road improvement project at the Valentine-Victoria intersection can be completed.

“Ideally, they would wait until that was done,” said Stephen McMorrow, an accountant whose office is on Valentine Road.

But widening of the intersection is not expected to be completed until December 1998. And Gold Coast officials say they need to begin work on the expansion immediately to capture a greater portion of the trash now being sent to Bailard Landfill in Oxnard.

Bailard now takes as much as 1,500 tons of trash from western Ventura County, but is slated to close next month. After the closure, that trash will be sent to Toland Landfill near Santa Paula.

But Gold Coast officials say their facility’s expansion would allow the company to process most of that waste, separating recyclables before shipping the remaining garbage to Toland and three other landfills in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

“The [Bailard] landfill closes Aug. 24,” Gold Coast spokeswoman Nan Drake said before the meeting. “Where are you going to take your trash?”

City leaders agreed that the Gold Coast project needs to begin as soon as possible, and voted unanimously to deny the appeals and grant the permits the company needs to begin construction.

“Delays could be a problem for everybody,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said. “I don’t think we can afford to wait.”

Currently, about half of the city’s trash is processed by Gold Coast, with most of the rest being sent directly to Bailard. It is the city’s intent to process all city trash through Gold Coast once the expansion is complete.

The expansion will help Ventura meet state mandates to recycle at least 50% of its trash by the year 2000, Mayor Jack Tingstrom said. The city now recycles more than 30% of its solid waste.

“We will be able to get more trash in there to meet the recycling needs,” he said.

The expansion is expected to take about six months to complete, according to city officials.

Gold Coast now processes 440 tons of trash a day, six days a week, from Ventura, Fillmore, Ojai, Camarillo, Newbury Park and parts of unincorporated Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“It is going to provide additional recycling resources,” Councilman Jim Friedman said before the meeting. “There is a tremendous benefit for the city and the people who live here.”