CHANNEL ISLANDS : Sanitation District Sued Over Recycling

A group representing residents near the Channel Islands Harbor has filed a lawsuit against the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, claiming the district plans to spend up to $27 million on a recycling center that may not be needed.

The suit was filed last week by the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District, a public agency that provides water, sewer and trash collection services for 8,500 residents in the Channel Islands beach and harbor area.

The suit, filed in Superior Court, charges that an environmental report on the proposed recycling center in Oxnard near 5th Street and Rice Road failed to discuss all alternatives.

Gerard Kapuscik, general manager of the Channel Islands district, said one alternative is the privately run Gold Coast Recycling Center that operates in Ventura. Another alternative is a recycling center proposed by Waste Management of North America Inc., he said.

The Ventura Regional Sanitation District is a public agency that provides sewage and trash disposal services for eight cities and nine special districts, including the Channel Islands district.

Kapuscik said the sanitation district would save residents in those eight cities up to $27 million by canceling plans for a recycling center and allowing Gold Coast or Waste Management to provide for their recycling needs.

The lawsuit demands that the sanitation district redraft the environmental report to consider the alternatives.

Charlotte Cravens, a Camarillo councilwoman and member of the sanitation district’s board of directors, called the lawsuit senseless.