Sometime last fall, General Combs of the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos decided he could conserve water and help meet environmental goals by setting up a composting operation on the base. Monday night at the Seal Beach City Council meeting, the peoples' representatives gave the much maligned project a big thumbs down. The problem, among other complaints, is the potential daily parade of 12 to 15 40 ton trash hauling 18 wheelers thundering down Lampson Avenue, a residential street.
Although the General, who is retiring next month, has gone to some length to justify his project and all its many ramifications, at the council meeting, the local residents remained unconvinced. The most affected area is College Park East, which borders Lampson Ave. and the Arbor Park entrance which the trucks would utilize. The College Park residents were out in force at the council meeting and they were of one voice, and that voice was adamantly opposed to the trucks and the project in general.
In an exclusive interview with General Combs on Tuesday, June 9, he said of the city's action, "I respect what transpired, I plan to honor it, and I will reevaluate our programs in light of that." The City's decision will not have any immediate impact on the composting program because the base is currently using Katella and Lexington avenues to enter the base. General Combs said they used that route for the pilot project last year and would continue using it for the immediate future.
The specific agenda item before the council was the posting of signs which would prohibit the heavy trucks from using Lampson Ave. The Seal Beach City Attorney, Quinn Barrow, explained existing city ordinances already prohibit the heavy trucks from using Lampson Ave., but the signs were needed for enforcement. Although city council meetings typically fall behind William Shakespeare or Arthur Miller for high drama, Monday's meeting actually had dramatic tension as the vote drew near.
Since the College Park East voters are represented by Councilman Gary Miller, there was never any question about his vote. But, on a council of 5, Miller needed at least 2 other councilmen to support him and that has not always been easy to come by. During the discussions, the other councilmen had not said much to suggest where they might be leaning. After Miller finished his plea for an affirmative vote, Councilman Charles Antos was given the floor. By this time it was already 10:00 PM and three hours into what would eventually be a 5 hour marathon meeting. The anxious College Park East residents, waited for the vote.
Antos, in his slow halting speech, began to question the affect of the measure on the deliveries of fuel to the corner gas station and supplies to a local restaurant. He went on for a while and seemed to be getting a sympathetic ear from his fellow council members. At this point, it appeared that a likely outcome would be a delayed vote, which would have been a defeat for the College Park East people. But, Miller retook the floor and, having anticipated this potential problem, explained how placement of the signs could accomplish the goal without hampering the acceptable deliveries. Mayor Shanks also contributed to the discussion and appeared to be supportive of the measure. Finally, he called for the vote and the resolution was adopted on a 5/0 vote. The waiting audience broke into applause.
This of course, does not mean that the project is over, although previously General Combs had said that the project could not operate without Lampson Ave. During a 2008 test run of the project, the trucks used Katella and Lexington to enter the base, so perhaps the project will proceed using that route. This would also mean that Los Alamitos would bear the entire truck traffic load and that would undoubtedly generate some concern from that quarter.
Your Editors asked Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar about this and he said "I would like to hear the General's secondary plan, hopefully for some street remediation or some sort of contribution to the city for us to take on the potential traffic." When asked if Los Alamitos would put in place a similar prohibition to the Seal Beach ordinance, Edgar said "At this point I think our council is more concerned about setting a precedent that the base goes and does actions and doesn't bring the cities in on the action which has an adverse affect. They don't need our permission to do this, but they could definitely run into the problems like they are now with Seal Beach. At this point, I think that there are a lot of different options on how to deal with this." Edgar said "Primarily we're concerned about the commercial actions on behalf of the base without coordinating with the surrounding cities until after the fact. If the mission of the base and the funding problem isn't fixed, the base will continue to do these types of business ventures."
