Ventura County

This changed recently enough that a lot of property files are still out of date.

Ventura County used to hold its own municipal stormwater permit, Order R4-2010-0108. On September 11, 2021 that order was superseded by a single regional MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) permit, Order R4-2021-0105, issued by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and covering Los Angeles County, Ventura County and the City of Long Beach together.

If you manage property on both sides of the county line, this is good news. Sites in Camarillo and sites in Calabasas now sit under the same permit and the same expectations, so one set of practices and one reporting format covers the portfolio. Before 2021 they did not.

We contain and recover wash water, capture solids at the drain inlet, and photograph and log each visit in a format written to be handed to an auditor unedited. Read what BMP (Best Management Practices), MS4 and NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) ask of a private property owner.

Ventura County has an unusual combination: heavy agriculture on one side and open coast on the other, and commercial property here tends to catch both.

Across the Oxnard Plain, airborne soil from working farmland settles continuously on buildings, glass and hardscape. It is finer and more persistent than urban dust, and after irrigation or rain it sets rather than rinsing away. Sites near packing and processing operations pick up organic residue with it.

Closer to the water the problem changes:

• Salt deposition on glass, storefront framing and painted metal along the coast
• Marine layer moisture supporting algae on shaded elevations and north-facing walkways
• Agricultural dust bonded onto surfaces by irrigation overspray and morning damp
• Organic staining near food processing and packing facilities

Agricultural film responds to detergent and dwell time far better than to pressure. On stucco and painted surfaces, soft washing is the right method here more often than not.

• Cold Storage & Refrigerated Warehouse Packing and cold chain facilities across the Oxnard Plain
• Industrial & Manufacturing Food processing and light manufacturing yards and pads
• Commercial & Retail Property Centers through Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Ventura
• Hotel & Resort Coastal hospitality where salt sets the maintenance interval
• Corporate Campuses & Office Parks Office property along the 101 corridor
• HOA & Multi-Residential Common areas, garages and walkways on an annual program

Coverage runs from the Los Angeles County line through the Oxnard Plain to the coast.

• Are Ventura County sites still on a separate stormwater permit? No, and this catches people out. Ventura County’s own order was superseded in September 2021 by a regional permit shared with Los Angeles County, so property on both sides of the line now follows one set of expectations.
• Why does agricultural dust keep coming back so quickly? Because it is being generated continuously nearby rather than blown in occasionally. The realistic answer is a scheduled interval that keeps the film from bonding, not a single deep clean that is expected to last a year.
• Can you clean around a food processing facility during production? Yes. Work near production and packing areas is scheduled around your sanitation windows and shift changes, with methods and chemistry chosen so nothing carries into a controlled area.
• Do coastal Ventura properties need a different schedule from inland ones? Usually. Salt exposure near the water justifies more frequent attention to glass and painted metal, while inland sites are driven by agricultural dust instead. We set each site’s interval from its actual exposure.