Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) has funded five projects in Lompoc to help children, families and seniors breathe cleaner indoor air.

Three community facilities — Lompoc Boys & Girls Club, Lompoc Family YMCA, and Dick DeWees Community and Senior Center — are now equipped with high-efficiency air filtration to serve as Clean Air Centers, spaces where people can gather for clean indoor air during wildfire season.

At two elementary schools, APCD funded the replacement of 60-year-old classroom furniture with new furniture that ensures clean indoor air.

Each Clean Air Center uses health-protective air filters (MERV 13 level) in its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

The Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating measures how well a filter captures particulate matter, the main pollutant of concern in wildfire smoke and ash; the higher the rating, the more effective the filter.

MERV-8 filters, common in many buildings, capture approximately 70% of larger particles like dust, pollen, and pet dander, but they do not effectively capture smaller particles or sufficiently protect public health

MERV-13 filters capture approximately 90% of smaller particles and are effective at improving indoor air quality by also reducing dust, pollen, mold, in addition to smoke from wildfires.

Lompoc Boys & Girls Club: The club has some 600 members, with about 100 people visiting daily. The HVAC system, in use since 1979, no longer worked properly and required the use of space heaters in the winter.

APCD replaced two natural gas-fired furnaces and aging ductwork with two electric heat pump systems to provide heating and cooling year- round.

Heat pumps are cleaner and more energy-efficient than a standard gas furnace and electric air conditioner, will help reduce utility bills, and are expected to last up to 25 years if properly maintained.

Under a five-year grant agreement, the HVAC vendor will provide twice-yearly maintenance, including replacement of 90 MERV-13 filters over five years, and the club will be available as a Clean Air Center for members and their families during wildfire season.

Lompoc Family YMCA: The YMCA has a membership of more than 1,000 teenagers and 300 adults, with about 100 visits daily, and already opens its facility to the public during natural disasters, offering free showers, shelter, food and water.

Its building has five HVAC systems, including three heat pumps, all of which used MERV-8 filters.Under a five-year grant agreement, APCD will reimburse the YMCA for MERV-13 filters (an estimated 300 over five years) and routine preventive maintenance for all five HVAC systems.

The YMCA will make its facility available as a Clean Air Center for members and their families during wildfire season.

Dick DeWees Community and Senior Center: Operated by the city of Lompoc, the 15,000- square-foot center hosts exercise classes for approximately 500 seniors each week, and another500 adults use the building for dance classes, weddings, church services, and training courses.

Its 10 HVAC systems used MERV-8 or MERV-11 filters. Under a five-year grant agreement, APCD will reimburse the city for upgrading all 10 systems to MERV-13 filters (an estimated 320 over five years) and for quarterly preventive maintenance, and the center will be available as a Clean Air Center for the public during wildfire season.

Clean Air Classrooms – Clarence Ruth and Leonora Fillmore Elementary Schools.

Over the summer, APCD replaced 60-year-old furniture in the kindergarten, firs-grade, and second-grade classrooms at two Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD) elementary schools — Clarence Ruth and Leonora Fillmore.

The new desks, chairs, tables, countertops and cabinets benefit some 370 students and their teachers.

Recognizing that the decades-old furniture needed to be replaced, LUSD and APCD purposely chose pieces of new furniture that were manufactured to be better for indoor air quality than is required by federal and state standards.

With this program, LUSD committed to purchasing the same type of furniture in the future. APCD has been attending events at both elementary schools to speak about the new classroom furniture, in addition to the Clean Air Centers in Lompoc.

“We greatly value this opportunity to work with community partners on increasing access to cleaner indoor air in Lompoc,” said Aeron Arlin Genet, APCD’s executive director.

“We look forward to talking with Lompoc families at events to share more information about these projects as well as general information, in English and Spanish, about local air quality and practical steps to take when air quality is unhealthy,” Genet said.

In June 2025, APCD’s Board of Directors approved $325,000 to complete these projects and implement associated community outreach and engagement.

These funds were set aside in APCD’s Clean Air Fund as part of a $1.3 million settlement with a Lompoc cannabis manufacturing facility for violating air quality rules; as part of resolving the violations, the facility’s potential to emit air pollution was reduced by 90% compared to peak operations.

For these Lompoc Clean Air Fund projects, APCD prioritized projects near where the emissions occurred and where sensitive groups — primarily children and seniors — spend time, including in and near the “Community of Focus” identified in the city of Lompoc’s Environmental Justice Element.

Established in 2019 and made up of excess revenues from Notices of Violation, the Clean Air Fund pays for projects approved by APCD’s Board of Directors that provide air quality and public health benefits for communities throughout Santa Barbara County.