NATIONAL CITY – After years of putting up with paint fumes, welding racket, no neighborhood parking and an assortment of ear and eye pollution, Old Town residents could get a break – eventually.

A grass-roots movement that began years ago to crack down on high-polluting businesses wedged among homes on the west side is finally resonating with city officials.

On Tuesday, the City Council will discuss whether to adopt an ordinance that would – over time – phase out businesses that do not conform with zoning regulations in the city's oldest neighborhood.

For years, west side residents have battled businesses that have taken over their original downtown neighborhood and whose emissions have increased the asthma rate in the area, according to a study from the Environmental Health Coalition, a local advocacy group.

Today's west side is squished between the Mile of Cars dealerships on National City Boulevard and Interstate 5, and mixed in with the early 20th century homes are a slew of auto repair, auto painting and welding shops.

“These businesses should not be next door to homes,” said Leticia Ayala of the Environmental Health Coalition.

Early ideas on what to do with these businesses include creating an industrial park for the majority of them. A study into the feasibility of an industrial park, however, is on hold, Councilman Frank Parra said.

City officials agree the west side has been ignored for years. Of the 133 businesses in the Old Town neighborhood, only eight have all of their required operating permits, according to city code compliance statistics.

“Historically, there has been an unspoken understanding that it's OK with National City for businesses to be noncompliant,” said Toni Lo Presti of the Environmental Health Coalition.

Code enforcement citations have no teeth without an ordinance such as the one proposed on Tuesday's agenda, Parra said.

“It's all about money and profit,” he said.

When the west side – which is also called Old Town – was zoned industrial, homeowners did not have the same freedom to expand or build, Councilman Ron Morrison said in an interview.

Business owners bought up residential property, bulldozed the homes and built their businesses.

A consultant is putting together a land-use and development guide for Old Town, called the Westside Specific Plan.

With developer attention on National City, the Westside Specific Plan nearing completion and politicians interested, coalition workers say they must use the opportunity to push for better air quality.

“Nobody was ever interested in cleaning up Old Town before,” Lo Presti said.