Comment period for Scholl Canyon expansion extended
The deadline to submit comments about a proposed expansion of the Scholl Canyon Landfill has been extended once more to accommodate Eagle Rock residents who have yet to receive a public meeting about the options to elongate the 535-acre dump’s life span.
Members of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, a political body that advises Los Angeles Councilman Jose Huizar, tabled their discussion about the expansion Tuesday night due to the deadline extension.
The group plans to wait to hear a presentation from Glendale officials at a public meeting scheduled for this month before submitting their comments to Los Angeles County sanitation officials by the new deadline of Aug. 29
While Glendale owns the landfill, the access road runs through Eagle Rock.
“Our stand is that we want Eagle Rock’s voice heard,” said Lauren Ballard, a field deputy for Huizar’s office, at the neighborhood meeting at Eagle Rock City Hall. “That will probably mean getting some mitigating assistance for the impact on the roads and air quality.”
Huizar’s office had asked Glendale officials to host a public meeting like the one held for Scholl Canyon Estates residents in May for Eagle Rock dwellers, but Glendale couldn’t schedule one until late July — too close to the previous comment deadline of July 31, Ballard said, prompting the deadline extension.
This is the second time the cutoff date to comment on a draft environmental review of two proposed expansion alternatives has been drawn out.
The first option involves an approximately 11.5-million-cubic-yard vertical expansion that would add 13 years to the landfill’s life, while the second includes both horizontal and vertical extensions equaling about 16.5 million cubic yards, increasing the landfill’s life by 19 years, according to the project’s draft environmental impact report.
About 9 acres of hillside would be cut if the second option is selected.
“The issue in Eagle Rock is mostly aesthetic,” said David Greene, president of the neighborhood council.
Mark Snelgrove, an Eagle Rock resident who thought the report didn’t discuss the impact the landfill’s life extension will have on a nearby day-care center, encouraged the roughly 20 people at the meeting to read the draft environmental report and send in their comments.
“If we don’t chime in, this is going to get done without our voice,” he said.
The environmental impact report is just one of many steps before any action to extend the landfill’s life can be taken. Glendale officials are not seeking to pull permits for the project in the near future and they have been discussing the expansion for more than seven years.
Comments must be sent to Debra Bogdanoff at 1955 Workman Mill Road, Whittier CA 90601, or emailed to sclfeir@lacsd.org. Bogdanoff can also be reached at (562) 908-4288, Ext. 2734.
To read the report, visit bit.ly/OLuTGz.
The informational meeting about the proposed alternatives is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on July 31 at the Eagle Rock Recreation Center, 1100 Eagle Vista Drive, Los Angeles.
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