San Diego

Responding to complaints that San Diego city officials were dragging their feet, a Superior Court judge has ordered the city’s Planning Commission to hold a hearing later this month on a proposal to test-burn hazardous wastes in La Jolla.

In a suit filed by Ogden Environmental Services, the firm that hopes to conduct the tests at its plant on Torrey Pines Mesa, Judge Andrew Wagner directed the Planning Commission to hold a hearing Nov. 19 on the proposal in order to allow time for the City Council to act on the matter before Dec. 7, when three current council members leave office.

When the council established new guidelines requiring city approval for the experimental incinerator last summer, council members asked city planners to bring Ogden’s permit request back for final council action before Dec. 7. State officials already have approved Ogden’s request.

But after city planners tentatively scheduled a Planning Commission hearing for mid-December, Ogden, complaining that the council’s self-imposed deadline would not be met, sued two city officials--acting Planning Director Mike Stepner and City Clerk Charles Abdelnour--setting the stage for Monday’s hearing.

“Although I’m pleased, I’m never particularly happy when I have to sue city officials to do what the City Council directed them to do,” David Mulliken, Ogden’s attorney, said Monday. “But this is a constructive step that gets things back on track.”

Using an advanced treatment technique for disposing of hazardous material, Ogden plans to burn solvents, sludges and contaminated soils at a minimum temperature of 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit, leaving only an ash that company officials claim is non-toxic. Environmentalists, however, dispute the company’s claims and argue that the incinerator would pose potential health and environmental risks.