Supervisors Reject Plan to Recycle Construction Waste at Egg City Site

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday shot down plans to convert part of an old chicken ranch near Moorpark into a recycling center for the tons of scrap lumber, concrete and metal that come with new home construction.

By a 3-2 vote, the Board of Supervisors upheld a decision by the county Planning Commission to deny M-Maintenance and Clean-Up of Oxnard a permit for the project.

Supervisors Judy Mikels, Kathy Long and Frank Schillo sided with nearby residents, farmers and the city of Moorpark, fearing a recycling operation on the former Egg City site at Shekell and Grimes Canyon roads would create dangerous truck traffic and orchard-choking dust, and invite more industrial use into the unincorporated county area.

“This is a very good project, but it’s in the wrong place,” Mikels said.

Supervisors John K. Flynn and Susan Lacey, however, argued that using the land for a recycling center is permitted under the county’s planning and zoning guidelines. They said 46 permit restrictions designed to lessen the project’s environmental impact were enough to control dust and traffic and make the use compatible with neighboring farms and orchards.

Lacey said business people rely on the county’s planning and zoning guidelines. If recycling centers are not compatible in open space areas, she said, the county’s planning blueprints need to be revised.

M-Maintenance owner Salvador Placencia said his case is an example. He said he was misled by county Planning Department officials who told him that recycling was a permitted use in the area.

“When I came to the Planning Department, they said we could do this,” Placencia said. “I spent $150,000 right out of my pocket just to get this far.”

Placencia had sought a five-year permit to turn 14.5 acres of the 205-acre Egg City site into a recycling center for construction debris. The site, which is surrounded by steep hillsides on three sides, is four miles northwest of Moorpark and half a mile from the nearest home.

With its promise to cut home construction waste flowing to county landfills, the company had been approved for a $300,000 low-interest loan for the project from the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

David Goldstein, an analyst with the Ventura County Solid Waste Management District, said that metal, cardboard, roofing material, concrete and metal scraps from new housing projects represent 20% of the state’s landfill waste.

Support for such recycling projects, he argued before the board, would help the county meet strict state mandates to cut landfill waste by 50% by 2000.

He said ideal sites for such projects are difficult to find. Available industrial acreage is often too costly for recycling center operators to turn a profit, he said.

But residents and farmers who live and work near the Egg City site vehemently opposed the project, fearing the recycling center’s trucks would clog already dangerous roads and spread dust that could damage nearby lemon and avocado orchards.

County Farm Bureau Director Rex Laird said there are more appropriate industrial sites for the project in cities and rural areas across the county. He said Placencia pushed for the vacant Egg City site because he could boost his profit margin with a less expensive lease.

“That’s what this is all about,” he said. “Follow the money.”