Air quality on Westside not unusual

Deirdre Newman

The Westside has received a bad rap from a few vocal residents.

Among their complaints is the quality of the air, which they say

is noticeably worse because of the area’s industrial businesses. One

critic has even gone so far as to wear a gas mask while addressing

the City Council to illustrate how hazardous he considers the air

pollution in that area to be.

But on Monday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District

presented a report during a City Council study session that shows the

Westside’s air quality is right on average for the area.

Westside industrial property owners, who are still under the

threat of redevelopment, say they feel vindicated by the report.

“I’m happy to see this report has come out in a very official

form,” said John Hawley, who owns Railmakers. “And not only that the

report that has been given is positive, but also that the Air Quality

Management District is willing to go to every practical length to not

only do further testing, but reassure citizens of any problems they

might have.”

But the report did not go far enough to placate some of the

critics.

“Regardless of what they say at the [city council] and the

[district], nobody has really gone down there and taken a look at

these places and walked through them and seen what I’ve seen, because

there are places there that really smell,” said Janice Davidson, who

served on the committee that recommended improvements for the

Westside area.

The city arranged for the presentation in response to public

comments that had been made at City Council meetings about perceived

air pollution problems and health threats in the Westside industrial

area.

The district has a permanent monitoring station near the

intersection of Placentia and Adams Avenues and regulates 293

businesses in the city. It takes samples from ambient air for

pollutants like ozone and carbon monoxide.

The district found that there were 74 complaints in 2002, with the

highest number based on odor. It sent out 29 notices of compliance

and nine notices of violation within the same time period.

“We have received complaints and have investigated those,” said

Pompom Ganguli, public advisor for the district. “And wherever we

have noticed something they shouldn’t be doing, we have taken action

in order to stop that. There’s nothing extraordinary or unusual.”

Councilman Allan Mansoor said he would like to see more in-depth

testing done on the Westside. The last time that area was included in

a district study was in 1998.

The district is planning an intensive study of toxic pollutants

with a mobile station that can take samples from various spots around

the Westside, Ganguli said. The study will cost more than $1 million

and is expected to take place within the 2004-05 fiscal year.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who said the industrial businesses are

just one cause of air pollution in the area that the district covers,

asked for more specific information about which companies were

responsible for the violations.

“I think it’s very important to understand that our biggest

problem throughout the basin is automobile and vehicular traffic,”

Cowan said. “And next comes things like gas mowers and things like

that. We have a long way to go and we’re all responsible for that.

Not just industries that happen to manufacture things [and] use toxic

chemicals.”

On Oct. 13, the council will reconsider adding 434 acres to the

downtown redevelopment zone. Wary of the prospect of eminent domain,

many of the industrial property owners in that area have banded

together to improve their properties without redevelopment, working

in cooperation with the city.

In the meantime, the Community Redevelopment Action Committee came

up with a blueprint of what they would like to see for the Westside,

which includes a formal study regarding the possibility of rezoning

the bluffs, where the industrial businesses are located, from

industrial to residential to build high-priced homes with ocean

views.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].