Irvine Delays Decision on Landfill : Environmental Issues Raised by County’s Expansion Plan

The Irvine City Council postponed a decision Tuesday night on a plan to permit expansion of an Orange County landfill into the city limits, a proposal that has raised concern that the landfill may be damaging the environment.

An appeal of the city Planning Commission’s vote to grant the county a conditional use permit to expand the Coyote Canyon landfill into the city will be reconsidered at the council’s next scheduled meeting on Nov. 25.

The landfill, which has been known to leak methane gas into the air and leach potentially hazardous liquid waste into the ground below, was opened in 1963 on 653 acres of unincorporated land owned by the Irvine Co. and leased to the county.

The city’s planning staff had argued in favor of issuing the permit, saying that allowing the county to expand its facility by 206 acres--120 acres of it within the city limits--would give the city leverage to ensure that its environmental concerns are met.

Even without Irvine’s approval, the county would still be able to proceed with 86 acres of its planned addition outside the city limits, Assistant City Manager Paul Brady Jr. said.

A conditional use permit, requiring an annual review of the county’s performance, was approved Oct. 16 by the city Planning Commission. It included environmental protection measures, developed with county officials, that would apply to the entire 859-acre expanded landfill.

Councilman Ray Catalano, who appealed the commission’s action, was out of town and did not attend Tuesday night’s meeting.

But Mayor Larry Agran said council members wanted to be sure the environmental requirements imposed on the county are stringent enough to protect Upper Newport Bay and future residents of the currently uninhabited area around Coyote Canyon.

“The question is what (additional) conditions, if any, the city ought to apply,” Agran said. Coyote Canyon landfill already is “failing, structurally.”

“We’re talking about toxic chemicals and, in come cases, carcinogens,” he said.

A mixture of chemicals and organic materials dissolved in water--known as leachate--is seeping away from the dump at a rate of 20 to 40 meters (66 to 132 feet) per year, according to a report prepared by the city planning staff.

Additionally, potentially explosive methane gas is produced in the landfill as its contents decompose. Although the gas itself is odorless, it can bond with other odorous chemicals and carry them on the wind to surrounding areas, the planners’ report said. The county already has a methane recovery system at the landfill.

“It’s a 100-year problem, not just a couple of weeks or a couple of months,” Agran said.

Irvine officials also have other concerns: the condition of the land when dumping in Coyote Canyon ends later this decade, the noise of earthmoving equipment and large rigs at the landfill, and the deteriorating condition of Bonita Canyon Road, which carries traffic by the site.

The county agreed to a number of measures, including installation of drainage and leachate controls and gas monitoring and recovery systems. The county also agreed to resurface Bonita Canyon Road, improve MacArthur Boulevard, limit the hours of grading work at the landfill and follow a city-approved grading plan to make it compatible with the surrounding hilly terrain after the landfill’s scheduled closing in 1988.

Agran also wants the county to create a special fund and set aside money to pay for the environmental remedies that the landfill may continue to require, he said Tuesday. “It’s clear to me that this facility will not function properly without sizable investment in remedial measures.”