Glendale Expected to Rescind Scholl Canyon Landfill Limits

Heeding complaints from private refuse haulers, Glendale City Council members said this week that they will rescind an ordinance that would have diverted hundreds of tons of trash from the city’s Scholl Canyon landfill to San Fernando Valley landfills.

Private haulers complained bitterly that the ordinance adopted in July would cost their customers more because of longer hauls, greater fuel consumption and long waits in lines at the remaining dumps.

Council members said they were not aware of the repercussions the ordinance would have when they adopted it and that they will rescind it next week.

Introduced by Bremberg

The ordinance, which was to take effect Oct. 29, was introduced by Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg in an attempt to block the City of Los Angeles from using Glendale’s landfill. Bremberg said her ordinance was drafted in retaliation for what is perceived as a pollution hazard posed to Glendale’s ground-water runoff by Los Angeles’ Toyon Canyon landfill in Griffith Park.

However, because of inadvertent wording, the ordinance would also have affected 250 private haulers who use Scholl Canyon to dispose of most of the trash they pick up in Los Angeles and Burbank, officials said.

Mayor Larry Zarian said the ordinance was “a quickie kind of thing that put us in an embarrassing situation.”

Bremberg said, “I do not want to be responsible for putting over 250 private haulers out of business.”

The ordinance would have put Scholl Canyon off limits to “any refuse or waste which has its origin within any city which either owns, operates, maintains or regulates a sanitary landfill . . . within its municipal limits.”

Despite Bremberg’s squabble with Los Angeles, other council members said they approved the original ordinance because they believed it was intended to prolong the life of the Scholl Canyon dump.

Comparative Figures Given

The ordinance would have forced private haulers to take about 1,750 tons of trash a day to landfills in the San Fernando Valley instead of Scholl Canyon. Sanitation officials said Los Angeles city trucks dump only 200 tons of trash daily at Scholl Canyon--a minuscule percentage of the trash collected.

Bremberg attempted unsuccessfully Tuesday to amend the ordinance so that the ban applied only to Los Angeles city trucks. But other council members voted down the amendment, saying it would do little to extend the life of the Scholl Canyon landfill.

Council members, instead, called for a 60-day study of the city’s landfill needs and introduced an ordinance to rescind the July action, which will be voted upon next week.