Yard Waste Recycler, Residents End Dispute Over Odor Complaints : Settlement: Neighbors agree to drop plans for a lawsuit in exchange for firm’s decision to stop accepting debris at its facility between Simi Valley and Moorpark.

The owners of an eastern Ventura County company that uses worms to recycle yard waste into fertilizer and the company’s neighbors--who had threatened to sue over the noxious odor they say is coming from the recycling operation--announced Thursday in a joint news conference that they have settled their dispute.

The company, The Worm Concern, agreed to stop accepting debris as of next week at its 20-acre facility off Tierra Rejada Road between Simi Valley and Moorpark. The Worm Concern will eventually move to a new site several miles north of Moorpark near a mining operation off California 23.

The company’s neighbors, who had hired an attorney and a political consultant in their attempt to move The Worm Concern out of the Tierra Rejada Valley, agreed to drop their plans for a lawsuit in exchange for the company’s immediate action.

“The agreement announced here today shows that the new management of The Worm Concern does care about people,” said Jim Hagman, owner of neighboring Elvenstar Ranch, which spearheaded the attack against The Worm Concern.

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Hamilton Holt, a member of The Worm Concern’s board of directors, said the company had not changed management, but had changed its company policy.

“We want to expand and grow,” Holt said. “We recognized that the Tierra Rejada site would not allow for that.”

Much of the 100 tons per day of “green waste” that The Worm Concern accepts comes from a curbside recycling program in Simi Valley. When similar programs in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark begin soon, the company expects to more than double the amount of material it accepts annually.

If The Worm Concern had decided to stop accepting material altogether, it would have jeopardized the recycling efforts of those east county cities that must meet a state-imposed limit on the amount of trash they send to area landfills.

State law requires that cities reduce by 25% the amount of trash they send to landfills by 1995, and 50% by 2000. Because green waste, or trash from lawn and garden clippings, makes up as much as 30% of the trash sent to landfills, recycling that waste would go a long way toward helping cities meet the state deadlines.

Holt and Hagman both thanked Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery for bringing the two sides together. At the press conference, Montgomery laid out the terms of the agreement worked out over the past three weeks.

Starting Monday, The Worm Concern will divert all new green waste from the Tierra Rejada site to a temporary site off West Los Angeles Avenue in Simi Valley. A permanent site will very likely open within 90 days, Montgomery said, and the material would then be moved there.

“Three weeks ago I realized that the current process was not going to work,” Montgomery said. “No matter what, we would have ended up in litigation. . . . Now I think we’ve worked out a win-win solution, but we still need the cooperation of the county to make this work.”

The Ventura County Planning Department is considering requiring The Worm Concern to do a complete environmental review of both its operation off Tierra Rejada Road as well as a review of the new site before it can receive an operating permit.

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Montgomery said he hoped the interim agreement he helped negotiate would alleviate the requirement for an expensive environmental review. He said the new site, owned by Simi Valley contractor Dean Rasmussen, should not require the same detailed review because it would not have an impact on people.

The Ventura County planning director will rule within 30 days if the company must complete a full environmental review.

Rich Wells, an administrative assistant for Supervisor Vicky Howard, said he was happy that an agreement was worked out but was curious that it occurred so close to the November election.

“I think Supervisor Howard is pleased that The Worm Concern is finally recognizing the concerns of the residents out there,” Wells said. “I must say though that Vicky tried two years ago to get the company to move its operation, and I find it ironic that less than a month away from the November election they’ve decided to move.”

Rasmussen’s company, C.A. Rasmussen, donated $1,000 to Montgomery’s campaign for the Ventura County supervisor’s seat in the 4th District, covering Simi Valley, and The Worm Concern donated $250. Supervisor Howard is supporting Judy Mikels, Montgomery’s opponent in the November election.