Sun Valley Residents Fear Truck Traffic : Plan for Sediment Dump Draws Fire

More than 100 Sun Valley residents crowded into a church auditorium Thursday night to voice opposition to a county plan to use an attractive canyon off La Tuna Canyon Road as a dump for sediment trapped by flood-control structures.

The proposed La Tuna Sediment Placement Site is needed because of dwindling space in four other county-operated sediment dumps between Sylmar and La Canada Flintridge in the foothills of the Verdugo and San Gabriel mountains, officials said.

James Easton, assistant deputy director of the county Department of Public Works, told the crowd that the 94-acre La Tuna site would receive only clean soil, rocks and tree limbs that naturally wash off the hillsides. The dump would be used only sporadically, he said.

Residents Not Appeased

But the crowd was not appeased.

“We don’t want to live in the middle of a truck stop,” said Evelynn McGuinness, a resident of the mountainous, semi-rural area south of the 210 freeway where the site is situated. About 90% of the site is owned by the county, the rest by the city of Los Angeles.

Other speakers said that La Tuna Canyon Road is already dangerous and would be more so with traffic from heavy trucks. They also suggested that the site would attract illegal dumpers.

But no one who turned out for the meeting at Faith Baptist Church was more unhappy than Nelson John Monceaux.

Monceaux, 36, said he bought his home and nine acres in May only to find out a few days ago that the property is 100 feet from an access road that trucks would take to the site.

“I said what the hell is this is? I didn’t know anything about it,” Monceaux said.

Often Used as Fill

The site would be used to deposit silt from 35 foothill debris basins, dams that trap eroding earth to keep it from plugging up flood control channels.

Normally, county officials said, the debris is taken by contractors for use as fill. But they said they cannot deal with the sediment in so leisurely a fashion when a heavy load of debris builds up during the winter storm season. They then must clear the silt immediately so the basins are ready for the next flood of water and dirt, they said.

Officials said they hope to present a final environmental impact report to the county Board of Supervisors by the end of December. If the supervisors give the go-ahead, they would apply for city zoning permits and perhaps be ready to use the site next winter.

Officials estimated that they would rarely use the La Tuna site: not at all in 35% of the years, and for no more than two weeks in 15%.

They acknowledged, however, that noise and congestion from trucks could be substantial under a “worst case” scenario involving a series of major storms or fires years in the future when space at the other sediment sites is exhausted. They said the landfill then could be operated around the clock under floodlights for brief periods, with county crews unloading up to 7,200 truckloads in 24 hours.

Environmental Report

The draft environmental report said the operation also would convert “a generally undisturbed grass- and brush-covered canyon with considerable aesthetic variety . . . to a large, somewhat uniform, earthen plateau connecting two ridges.”

The fill eventually would bury La Tuna Canyon Creek, an intermittent stream, and destroy streamside plants, animals and trees, including a “dense canopy” of 200 to 300 coast live oaks 40 to 60 feet tall, the draft report said.

County officials said they picked the site because of its proximity to the debris basins and public ownership, eliminating long hauling and acquisition and dumping fees.