(A) 
The Board of Supervisors finds and declares:
(1) 
Hazardous materials and hazardous waste (hereinafter collectively referred to as hazardous materials) present in the community may pose acute and chronic health hazards to individuals who live and work in this County and who are exposed to such materials as a result of fires, spills, industrial accidents, or other types of releases or emissions. Additionally, many hazardous materials present a serious health risk, even when emitted in low levels over long periods of time.
(2) 
Improper handling of small amounts of hazardous materials has resulted in contamination of soil, air and groundwater.
(3) 
The cleanup of soil and groundwater contaminated with hazardous materials can cost many times more than the original cost of properly containing and handling the hazardous materials responsible for the contamination.
(4) 
It is the responsibility of all businesses to protect their workers and the public from hazardous materials they use and hazardous waste they generate.
(5) 
That Division 20, Chapters 6.11 (Unified Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Materials Management Regulatory Program), 6.5 (Hazardous Waste Control), 6.7 (Underground Storage of Hazardous Substances), 6.75 (Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup) and 6.95 (Hazardous Materials Release Response Plans and Inventory) of the California Health and Safety Code are adopted and are to be used in conjunction with the provisions of this chapter. In addition, Titles 19 (Public Safety), 22 (Social Security), 23 (Waters), and 27 (Environmental Protection) of the California Code of Regulations, and this chapter, will be utilized in the implementation and enforcement of requirements relative to hazardous materials, hazardous waste, and underground storage tanks.
(B) 
It is the intent of the Board of Supervisors that this chapter shall:
(1) 
Recognize the County's responsibility and authority to protect human health, safety, and the environment.
(2) 
Foster the best available industrial processes and best available practical control technology to minimize or eliminate the use of hazardous materials in the County, and minimize or eliminate potential contamination by hazardous materials. This chapter shall condition any permitted use of hazardous materials by placing an obligation on the users to strictly control the discharges and releases.
(3) 
Require that hazardous materials users monitor any discharges into the environment and keep records on the effectiveness of their hazardous materials management practices as a means of enforcing the obligations established by this chapter.
(4) 
Recognize the community's right to know basic information on the use and storage of hazardous materials in the County and establish an orderly system for the provision of such information.
(Ord. 4521 § 2, 1998; Ord. 5306 § 3, 2019)
Unless otherwise expressly stated, whenever used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:
(A) 
"Abandoned,"
when referring to a storage facility, means out of service and not safeguarded in compliance with State or Federal laws, and/or this chapter.
(B) 
"Business"
means any establishment, employer, self-employed individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, partnership, association, city, county, district, and the State, or any department or agency thereof to the extent allowed by law. For the purpose of this chapter, a business shall include both for-profit and nonprofit business.
(C) 
"CAS number"
means the unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to specific chemical materials.
(D) 
"Discharge"
includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, dumping, or release of a hazardous material into the environment.
(E) 
"Economic poison"
means any spray adjuvant, or any material or mixture of materials which is intended to be used for defoliating plants, regulating plant growth, or for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any and all insects, fungi, bacteria, weeds, rodents, predatory animals, or any other form of plant or animal life.
(F) 
"EPA waste stream code"
means the identification number assigned pursuant to the regulations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to specific types of hazardous waste.
(G) 
"Facility"
means a building or buildings, appurtenant structures, and surrounding land used by a person or business at a single location or site.
(H) 
"Hazard class"
means explosives (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6), flammable liquids, combustible liquids, flammable solids, oxidizers, organic peroxides, corrosive materials, flammable gases, nonflammable gases, poisons A, poisons B, irritating materials, etiologic agents, radioactive materials, other regulated materials (ORM) A, B, C, D and E. For purposes of this chapter, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) definitions in 49 CFR Part 173 as amended shall be utilized; however, whenever the definitions in 49 CFR 173 refer to transportation or hazards associated with transportation, they shall be deemed to refer to storage or other regulated activity under this chapter.
(I) 
"Hazardous Materials Advisory Commission"
means that body created by Chapter 2.92 SCCC.
(J) 
"Health Officer"
means the Health Officer of Santa Cruz County or their representative or designee.
(K) 
"Monitor"
means to perform a test, sample, check, or otherwise provide oversight of a release, discharge, or clean-up activity to ensure compliance with standards set pursuant to any provision of this chapter or any other law regarding the handling of hazardous materials.
(L) 
"Permit"
means any hazardous materials permit issued pursuant to this chapter, as well as any additional approvals, amendments or revisions thereto.
(M) 
"Person"
means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, business concern, partnership, limited liability company, association, and corporation, including, but not limited to, a government corporation. "Person" also includes any city, county, district, commission, the State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof, any interstate body, and the Federal government or any department or agency thereof to the extent permitted by law.
(N) 
"Property"
means any land or improvements owned, leased, possessed or under the direct control of the user.
(O) 
"Remove"
means the clean-up or removal of released hazardous materials or environmental media contaminated by hazardous materials, such actions as may be necessary to monitor, assess or evaluate the release or clean-up of hazardous materials, or the taking of other such actions as may be necessary to mitigate damage to human health, safety, and the environment.
(P) 
"Reproductive toxin"
means a material or agent which can affect reproductive functions causing birth defects, spontaneous abortions, impaired spermatogenesis, reduced fertility and/or intrauterine growth retardation as specified in guidelines prepared by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Cal/EPA.
(Q) 
"SDS"
means a Safety Data Sheet prepared pursuant to Section 6390 of the California Labor Code or pursuant to the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor.
(R) 
"Significant change"
means any change in ownership, operator, or resulting in, or potentially resulting in, an increase or change in the type, volume or location of storage, use, release, emission or discharge of a hazardous material.
(S) 
"Standard temperature and pressure"
(STP) means a temperature of zero degrees centigrade and a pressure of one atmosphere.
(T) 
"Storage facility" or "storage container"
means any one, or combination of, tanks, sumps, wet floors, waste treatment facilities, pipes, vaults or other portable or fixed containers, used, or designed to be used, for the storage of hazardous materials at a facility.
(U) 
"Tank"
means a device designed to contain an accumulation of hazardous materials which is constructed primarily of non-earthen material (e.g., wood, concrete, steel, plastic) which provides structural support.
(V) 
"UN/NA numbers"
means United Nations/North American identification numbers assigned to hazardous materials.
(W) 
"Underground storage tank" or "underground storage facility"
means any one or a combination of tanks, including pipes connected thereto, which is used for the storage of hazardous materials and which is substantially or totally beneath the surface of the ground. This definition includes, but is not limited to, any container, vessel, vault, sump, separator, and/or hydraulic lift.
(X) 
"User"
means any person or business which handles a hazardous material.
(Ord. 4521 § 2, 1998; Ord. 5071 § 2, 2010; Ord. 5306 § 3, 2019)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter:
(A) 
Whenever any provision of this chapter conflicts with any State or Federal regulation, the stricter provision shall prevail.
(B) 
Whenever any provision of this chapter conflicts with the Uniform Fire Code as adopted by a city or the County, the stricter provision shall prevail.
(Ord. 4521 § 2, 1998)
All of the following liquid, solid and gaseous materials are subject to regulation by this chapter as hazardous materials:
(A) 
Any material or product for which the manufacturer or producer is required to prepare an SDS for the material or product pursuant to the Hazardous Materials Information and Training Act (commencing with Section 6360, Chapter 2.5, Part 1 of Division 5 of the California Labor Code) or pursuant to any applicable Federal law or regulation;
(B) 
Any material or product which is listed as a radioactive material set forth in Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 1, maintained and updated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (Such materials shall be exempt from the requirement that an SDS be submitted with the disclosure form);
(C) 
Any material or product which is a "hazardous waste" or an "extremely hazardous waste" as defined by Sections 25115 and 25117 of the California Health and Safety Code;
(D) 
Materials on the list prepared by the Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Section 6382 of the Labor Code;
(E) 
Hazardous substances, as defined in Section 25316 of the California Health and Safety Code;
(F) 
Any material which is classified by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as a flammable liquid, a class II combustible liquid, or a class III-A combustible liquid;
(G) 
The materials listed pursuant to Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations;
(H) 
Any material which is on the list of EPA pollutants, Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 401.15, as amended;
(I) 
Economic poisons stored in sufficient quantities as determined by either the Health Officer or the County Agricultural Commissioner; and
(J) 
Any material determined to be hazardous by the Health Officer, subsequent to a review by the Hazardous Materials Advisory Commission after public notice and a public hearing, based on a finding that the material, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical or chemical characteristics, poses a significant present or potential hazard to human health, safety, or to the environment if released into the community.
(Ord. 4521 § 2, 1998; Ord. 5306 § 3, 2019)
(A) 
Hazardous materials contained solely in consumer products packaged for distribution to and used by the general public shall be exempt from this chapter unless the Health Officer has provided written notice that the storage of certain quantities of specified consumer products requires compliance with this chapter to protect human health, safety, and the environment.
(B) 
The Health Officer shall exempt any material from the requirements of this chapter where it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Health Officer that the material in the quantity and/or solution stored and/or used does not present a significant actual or potential hazard to human health, safety, and the environment.
(Ord. 4521 § 2, 1998)