Battle brews over Cambria’s lone recycling site

Concerned residents have launched a petition drive to save a recycling collection center at the top end of Tamsen Drive.

Meanwhile, those who live in a neighboring area about 85 feet upslope, or who have property in that area, say the facility is too noisy and too close to their properties, and they want the business to be relocated someplace else. County planners say the nearest home is about 140 feet away from the recycling center.

County planning commissioners on March 24 delayed a decision until a continued hearing set for May 26. The commissioners said they want more time for county staff to flesh out its report and help search for other possible locations.

Commissioners, who appeared to oppose allowing the recycling center to continue operating where has been so for years, told staff to meet with representatives of the Cambria Community Services District and county Supervisor Bruce Gibson, among others, to continue what already have been long, drawn-out, detailed discussions about alternative locations for the state-mandated facility.

The commissioners also recommended that staffers talk to Dean Vadnais, who owns the large Cambria Village Square commercial property on which the center is operating, to see whether any space for the is available elsewhere on the site that’s farther from the homes.

The center is near the end of Tamsen, a private street. On one side of the street is one of the parking areas for the large commercial complex, which houses the Cambria Community Services District offices, La Terrazza Mexican Restaurant, Gym One/Cambria Physical Therapy and other offices. On the other side of Tamsen is a steep slope leading to a residential neighborhood.

Vadnais doesn’t charge rent for the recycling facility, according to Russell Read, the attorney for center operators Rudy and Michelle Rodriguez. Vadnais is the official applicant for the permit that would allow the facility to continue to operate where it is.

Commissioners said they also want more information about various aspects of the operation, such as the necessity for and equipment for doing crushing, along with a detailed history of the site and any enforcement actions taken against the business by county code enforcers.

The state requires that Cambria have a collecting station where consumers can turn in their recyclable containers and get back the deposits they paid when they purchased the products inside the containers. The state also mandates how far such a collection facility can be from the largest vendor of those products, but that distance can be stretched a bit under certain circumstances.

County codes and rules also apply, as do restrictions on uses for various parcels of land that are large enough and remote enough to accommodate the facility with less impact to neighbors, and where rents would be low enough to allow the business to succeed. Attorney Read said rent estimates for space in the Tin City industrial area, for instance, would be much too high for a business that operates on the slimmest of profit margins.

The situation is a convoluted clash between all those requirements and regulations, along with the apparent lack of alternative space in town, space that’s away from homes and the creek and where noise is less of an issue.

Meanwhile, the concerned citizens who support the recycling facility have petitions available to sign at the center itself and at Bob & Jan’s Bottle Shop, Mozzi’s Saloon, Soto’s Good Earth Market, the hall of American Legion Post No. 432 (downstairs/behind the Veterans Memorial Building), the Cambria General Store, Pit Stop and the Old Cambria Marketplace (Shell station).

The conflict

Neither the Rodriguezes nor the eight neighbors who oppose the center’s current location and the couple’s application for as as-built permit there, are happy with county staff recommendations for the project, according to their testimony, presentations, letters submitted and the original application.

The Rodriguezes, honored recently by the CCSD for their contributions to the community, said through their testimony and that of attorney Read that they believe the county’s required conditions to continue the business where it is (such as no crushing of cans or bottles on site, for one) would make it economically infeasible to continue the center, given the slender margin of profit in any recycling business these days.

The couple wants to sell the business and move back east to be close to twin toddler granddaughters and their parents.

The neighbors say the noise from such crushing, let alone during regular operations of the center, is inappropriate adjacent to homes, and dust, trash and unauthorized drop-offs when the center is closed also are problems.

Neighbor Kay Morrison said, “When they’re operating, I can breathe better in the San Joaquin Valley than in Cambria.” And, she said that during center operations, “I have to wear earplugs all day.”

The Morrisons bought their home in 2005, and center operations have expanded since then, she said. Now, with the center operating five days a week, “sometimes as late as 6 p.m. …. our home cannot be sold for anything close to what we paid for it.”

Both sides have other concerns, but those appeared to be the crux of the nearly two-hour public hearing March 24.

As Commissioner Ken Topping, who lives in Cambria, said in an April 5 phone interview, he hopes the two-month delay will allow county staff and various interested parties to find an amicable solution and/or a better location.

During the hearing, he said, “It’s obvious to me as a resident, nothing is ever simple in Cambria. I can understand how this situation kind of grew, without intervention until what seems like a late time.”

Commissioner Jim Irving said, “This is rock and a hard place.” Cambria “needs a recycling center.”

Meanwhile, the center can continue to operate until the commissioners either deny or approve Vadnais’ application for the permit.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Battle brews over Cambria’s lone recycling site."