Council to Cast Vote on Joining Countywide Recycled Manufacturing Zone

A special meeting has been called for Wednesday in which Murrieta City Council members will cast their votes on whether the city should become part of a countywide Recycling Market Development Zone.

The matter first came before City Council at its June 18 meeting, but was continued with a 4-0 vote—with Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Bennett absent—because they wanted to be sure city staff had thoroughly vetted the ramifications.

There is a current zone in Riverside County that expires in August. It encompasses the cities of Moreno Valley, Perris, Hemet, San Jacinto, Cathedral City, Indio, Coachella and Blythe, and includes the unincorporated areas of East Blythe, Cabazon, Thermal, Garnet, Thousand Palms, Mead Valley and Romoland.

In conjunction with the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery—CalRecycle—the Riverside County Economic Development Agency has asked all cities to participate in a new zone that would expire in 10 years.

The perks, according to Tom Freeman, executive director of the Riverside County Economic Development Agency and Office of Foreign Trade, are that manufacturers of recycled products are provided incentives in the way of grants so they can expand their business.

Examples of products made with recycled materials include plastic parts for machines, toys or medical devices, according to Freeman.

“This is a green industry incentive,” Freeman said.

But some City Council members also raised questions about language contained in the resolution it would be required to sign. Specifically, Mayor Rick Gibbs and Councilman Harry Ramos expressed concern about a paragraph containing the term “environmental justice.”

“After discussions with County staff, City staff recommends substituting new language into the resolution that removes ambiguous language concerning ‘environmental justice,’” wrote City of Murrieta Senior Management Analyst Brian Ambrose, in a report prepared for Wednesday’s meeting.

“Instead, language is recommended to be inserted that clearly articulates that the City does not discriminate and will comply with all federal and state laws.”

According to the revised resolution—attached to this article as a PDF document—the cities of Banning, Beaumont, Blythe, Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Cathedral City, Coachella, Corona, Desert Hot Springs, Eastvale, Hemet, Indian Wells, Indio, Jurupa Valley, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Norco, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Perris, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula and Wildomar and the unincorporated part of Riverside County have agreed to submit an application to CalRecycle requesting the redesignation of the Riverside County RMDZ due to a change in boundaries.

If Murrieta agrees, there would be no cost or obligation to the city, according to staff, and the county would act as the lead agency.

Some members of the public say there would be a cost, however.

Resident Stella Stephens said she has researched the health ramifications the recycling industry can create.

“It opens up the entire aspect of chemical reformulation,” Stephens said. “You are going to open up the door for benzene [linked to cancer] and all this other stuff...You need to do more research.”

Resident Diana Serafin encouraged the public to turn out for Wednesday’s meeting that is set to begin at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, One Town Square.

“It is a sustainable (UN Agenda 21) plan connected to the new school Common Core teaching regulations (dumbing down our children),” Serafin wrote Tuesday in an email. “This is another CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] tool and another public/private partnership (government control).”