Plan for Car Recycling Facility Stirs Anger
The Christmas tree farm that used to be under the power lines at Stanton’s city limits didn’t bother residents. Though a few trucks motored in and out, generally the little business was quiet, innocuous.
But when the farm closed and Southern California Edison Co. proposed an 8 1/2-acre auto recycling business on the site, neighbors spoke up in protest.
“We’re against this, and we’re going to fight it,” said Tim Butler, who moved to Santa Rosalia Street seven years ago with his wife, Adeline, and son, Billy, now 9.
From their back patio, the Butlers can see the site, which lies in an open area next to Stanton in Garden Grove. They fear that if Ecology Auto Parts is opened, property values will go down because of increased traffic and noise.
Under financial pressure from deregulation of the electric power industry, Edison officials in 1999 began encouraging the construction of retail outlets and industrial shops within its electric transmission line corridors, which generally have been off limits to all but agricultural or horticultural businesses. Most of those properties inside city limits are designated open space.
Some cities welcome the development proposals, but others are adamant that Edison’s corridors should remain greenbelts.
The first such development was a self-storage facility in Rosemead, where Edison is based. Donald Wagner, assistant city manager, said residents had some initial concerns, but the developer made changes that satisfied them. The facility opened in mid-1999.
Since then, self-storage facilities and RV parking lots have been opened on Edison land in Garden Grove, Westminster and Irvine. The utility plans to develop 61 acres in Long Beach for warehouse space and an entertainment zone to include batting cages and miniature golf.
“We typically visit a city to get a feel about what they think is compatible,” said Lou Salas, Edison’s corporate project manager for real estate. The utility does not rent its property but licenses its use to developers, Salas said.
In upscale La Canada Flintridge, a proposal for a drive-through coffee hut got a cold shoulder from residents.
“For now, their proposals have gone away,” said Angela Smythe, a La Canada Flintridge resident who has fought Edison’s plans. “I don’t think that people are cognizant of the door that could be opened by letting Edison develop these corridors.”
Edison has not given up on developing the site at Foothill Boulevard and Indiana Avenue.
“Right now it’s zoned open space, so whatever is proposed still has to go through our zoning process, including a General Plan amendment before it can be approved by the City Council,” said Robert Stanley, the city’s community development director.
A Firestorm of Opposition
The city had proposed a parking lot on the Edison property, which would have benefited Foothill Boulevard merchants, Stanley said, but Edison balked.
Nowhere has an Edison development proposal started a firestorm hotter than the one now raging in Stanton, a city of 34,500 in an area of just 3.3 square miles. Residents and elected officials have struggled for years to improve the city’s image. Incorporated in the mid-1950s during Southern California’s building boom, Stanton has struggled to build a viable economic base. City revenue was so tight during the 1980s that Stanton was forced to eliminate its police and fire departments--relying instead on Orange County services--and lease a former elementary school for its City Hall.
Mayor William C. Estrada angrily notes that Edison property serves as parks and greenbelts elsewhere, but not here. The auto recycling center would be “within 100 feet of our residents,” Estrada said. “Our City Council is pro-business, but our main problem is that Edison didn’t even consider the impact on our residents.
“I don’t see them proposing a junkyard in Irvine or Laguna Beach,” Estrada said. “Why are they doing it in our community? Why are they uglifying west Orange County and picking on us?”
Adding to Stanton officials’ and residents’ frustration is that the recycling center wouldn’t be in Stanton but in Garden Grove, which would profit from the tax revenue it generates.
Ecology Auto officials did not return telephone calls last week seeking comment on the issue.
Edison officials say emphatically that they are not targeting Stanton or west Orange County. They say Ecology Auto’s plan, which has not yet been submitted to Garden Grove, includes trees, landscaping and a 12-foot-high wall to ease eyesore potential.
“It’s been our policy to first look for a site that will least impact residents in an area that could support an activity” in terms of zoning, Salas said.
The utility requires potential developers to secure proper zoning and building permits for any construction. In addition, Edison leases must be reviewed by the state Public Utilities Commission. Zoning hearings give neighbors a chance to complain about any project they say is incompatible.
Salas said any use of the Edison right of way has to be compatible with the area and the company’s needs. “We don’t want a junkyard,” he said. “And everything we’ve seen from Ecology Auto is state of the art.”
Salas said the utility has been in talks with Garden Grove on right-of-way issues for more than five years. For their part, Garden Grove officials say an auto recycling business would be compatible with the area, which is zoned for industrial use, City Manager George L. Tindall said.
“Anyone who owns property has a right to submit plans for the property as long as it doesn’t break any zoning laws,” Tindall said, noting that Stanton has two auto recycling firms operating within its city limits.
He has encouraged Ecology Auto executives to meet with Stanton officials and work out their differences.
Rather than resort to a legal fight, Stanton officials say, they want to meet with their counterparts in Garden Grove to see what compromises are possible.
“We don’t want any battle right now with Garden Grove. We want to try and work this out,” Estrada said.
