School district sues state, county agencies over actions on Rainbow waste facility

The Ocean View School District has filed a lawsuit against state and county agencies, alleging that the Orange County Health Care Agency abused its discretion by not responding in a timely manner to the district’s complaints about a Huntington Beach waste management facility across from a school.

The district’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 9 in Orange County Superior Court, is an attempt to undo a September decision by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery that the county agency was not obligated to contact the district after officials submitted a letter of concern regarding Rainbow Environmental Service’s operation at 17121 Nichols Lane. The waste sorting and recycling facility is across from Oak View Elementary School, and neighborhood residents and Ocean View officials have long complained about dust, odors, noise and other nuisances emanating from the site.

Ocean View board members voted unanimously in September to file the lawsuit against the two agencies.

The California department’s ruling overturned a Feb. 4 decision by a hearing officer who ordered the county to reopen its review of Rainbow’s permit and to investigate whether the facility was responsible for the reported nuisances affecting the Oak View neighborhood.

Hearing officer Craig Alexander wrote in his 40-page ruling that though the Health Care Agency, which acts as the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s local enforcement body, correctly conducted inspections of Rainbow’s facility, it failed to contact those who had complained about the operation.

The Health Care Agency renewed Rainbow’s five-year permit in October 2014. The school district appealed the following month.

The company told the Huntington Beach City Council in May that it would enclose its operation with a proposed 90,000-square-foot building by 2018.

However, the South Coast Air Quality Management District filed a petition with its hearing board on Sept. 29 proposing changes to Rainbow’s facility to address the nuisance issues.

AQMD has issued 10 notices of violations to Rainbow since November 2013.

The regional air quality agency initially scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at its headquarters in Diamond Bar. However, Ocean View board President Gina Clayton-Tarvin requested that the meeting be rescheduled and take place in Huntington Beach to make it easier for Oak View neighborhood residents to attend.

Clayton-Tarvin said the hearing is now scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 7 at the Oak View Community Center, 17261 Oak Lane.