Contractors Accused of Dumping in Creek Bed

Two contractors hired by the county to clear flood debris have been accused of dumping debris in a Somis creek bed, risking clogged waterways and damage to the environment downstream.

Ventura County code enforcement officers say they found at least 100 inoperable vehicles, tires, engines, radiators and other debris buried in the muck and under overgrown brush on a farm belonging to Tom A. Staben.

Staben, who has a $994,000 public works contract to clear storm damage along the Ojai Valley’s Santa Ana Road, was cited for using his farm as a storage yard for his contracting business. He has until Wednesday to clear his land or risk civil and criminal action.

The same county agency that issued the public works contract charged Staben with a similar offense in 1993. And the city of Ventura cited Staben last summer for suspected violations at a recreational vehicle park he owns there.

At a neighboring Somis farm, officers say they found soil, rock, concrete and other construction debris on land belonging to Paul D. Burns, who is under a $198,000 contract to clear a flood basin near Moorpark.

Burns faces not only a code enforcement citation, but charges from county flood control officers that he illegally graded and dumped dirt and concrete rubble on the land along the Arroyo Simi.

Officials say they cannot determine whether the material dumped next to the creek is the same debris cleared in county projects.

But zoning laws forbid using farmland as an industrial storage yard. And flood control rules prohibit placing such material within the stream bed, where it can alter the flow of flood waters or wash downstream.

Code enforcement officer Gloria Goldman said her department was alerted to the problem by a neighbor’s complaint.

Goldman said she had to obtain a court-issued warrant to enter Staben’s property, situated between California 118 and the Arroyo Simi at La Cumbre Road.

County records show Staben was issued his current county contract by the Ventura County Public Works Agency despite the 1993 violation notice issued by the same agency ordering Staben to stop dumping “soil, rubble and other deleterious material” into the arroyo.

Alex Sheydayi, deputy public works director, said he was not sure whether his agency ever followed up on that complaint or whether the problems were corrected.

Moreover, Sheydayi said just because one arm of his agency--the flood control district--is alleging flood way violations, it does preclude the person accused from bidding on other public works contracts.

“The two are unrelated,” he said. “If he’s got a license . . . and he has insurance, we have no choice. The law does not prevent us from awarding a contract.”

Complaints over Staben’s land date back several years, county and state authorities say.

Chris Long, Ventura County patrol lieutenant for the state Department of Fish and Game, said he has been fielding complaints about Staben’s land since 1990.

“We’ve received constant complaints on him,” Long said. “We don’t get them every day, we don’t get them every month, but we definitely get them often enough.”

In a 1994 letter, Long warned Staben of past violations and warned that future violations may result in prosecution.

Long said Thursday that based on the county code enforcement’s action, his agency will very likely follow up next week.

“If he’s violated the law, he’s going to be prosecuted,” Long said. “He knows where he stands with us.”

Staben, who also owns the Ventura Beach RV Resort, was cited last year by Ventura code officials on suspicion of pouring a concrete lining into a natural channel and storing more than 5,000 square feet of concrete blocks at Emma Wood State Beach.

He corrected the problems and avoided fines, according to city officials.

Staben did not return a phone call left at his office Thursday.

Burns, who also has until Wednesday to clean up his farm, said he has cleared up most of the violations and is ready for code enforcement officers to reinspect his property.

He acknowledged he has been using his land in violation of its agricultural zoning, including the use of office trailers without a permit by a tenant with a plant nursery business. “I have no problem with what they’re doing,” Burns said of code enforcement officials. “They’re just trying to keep everyone in compliance.”

But Burns said he disagreed with the flood control action because he was issued a grading permit for the work by another arm of the public works agency.

The flood control order notes the grading work could also put Burns in violation of county flood plain management restrictions, environmental health disposal laws, federal clean water and waterway construction laws, as well as state fish and game code.

Sheydayi said while Burns may have a grading permit, it remains difficult to determine how much of the work is allowed under the permit, and how much of the work is not.

“That’s what we’re looking at,” Sheydayi said.