Focus Shifts to Elsmere Canyon as Landfill Site

Elsmere Canyon near Santa Clarita has emerged as the prime candidate for a landfill now that three county supervisors have expressed reservations about building the dump in three verdant canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Breaking with their longstanding position that the three canyons should be developed as a landfill, Los Angeles County Supervisors Deane Dana, Mike Antonovich and Ed Edelman say they either oppose such a move or would consider it only as a last resort.

Just two months ago, the board voted to finance a detailed study of Mission, Rustic and Sullivan canyons north of Brentwood as one of six locations that sanitation experts say are technically best suited to be garbage dumps.

In recent interviews and statements, however, the three supervisors agreed with city officials, who for years have said that dumping garbage in those canyons is a bad idea. Four of the other top five sites being considered for the dump are in sparsely populated areas north of the Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway or near Santa Clarita. The fifth is in Griffith Park.

Antonovich said flatly that he would not vote to develop the three canyons--which abut Topanga State Park and are part of the proposed Santa Monica Mountains national parklands area--because many homes have been built nearby.

Not Near Neighborhoods

Edelman agreed. “We have to be realistic about where we can put landfills, and you can’t put them near residential areas,” he said.

Edelman and Dana, in whose district the canyons are located, both said they would oppose a landfill in the canyons unless all other reasonable options prove unworkable.

The canyons are at the bottom of the list of six top-rated locations for landfills, “and would only be considered if all the other sites fall apart,” Dana said. “And they have no business falling apart.”

With development of the canyons now highly questionable, both city and county officials say the prime site for a landfill is secluded Elsmere Canyon, 4 miles south of Santa Clarita and just east of the junction of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways.

“We are going to study all six areas, but everyone here is aware of the problem with Mission and Rustic-Sullivan,” said Roslyn Robson, spokeswoman for the county Public Works Department. “So we are focusing primarily at this time on Elsmere Canyon. It is the second largest” of the sites, she said, and “it seems to be the one we could develop quickest.”

The Elsmere landfill, which could accept about 16 years’ worth of county rubbish, would be built primarily on U. S. Forest Service land the city is trying to acquire through a complicated real estate swap, Robson said.

No Endorsement

The Santa Clarita City Council has not endorsed or opposed Elsmere Canyon as a landfill site, but Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon has said he fears the dump could threaten the city’s water supply.

The search for a site is still in its early stages, however, and environmental impact reports have not been completed. The supervisors may not select a final dump site for a few years.

In addition to Elsmere, sanitation engineers have recommended that three other north county canyons--Towsley, Blind and Browns--be studied as landfills. Development of a small dump in Griffith Park also should be studied, engineers said. Expansion of six existing landfills, most in the north county, also should be pursued, they said.

But some officials, Supervisors Pete Schabarum and Kenneth Hahn among them, still support the three Westside canyons as a possible dump site.

Stephen R. Maguin, head of the Sanitation Districts’ solid waste department, said all potential sites should be studied closely, including the Westside canyons.

“But from my standpoint, we clearly put six sites at the top of the list, and we recommend that all six be pursued,” Maguin said.

The Westside canyons site may be the best of the six top-rated locations because it is the largest, closest to the city and has soil that is not easily penetrated by liquids, Maguin said.

If the canyons were open, the city could eliminate the trucking of garbage to distant pits and save $24 million a year, Maguin said. An additional $6 million could be saved on garbage from county areas, he said.

In a related matter, Antonovich, Dana and Edelman have also said that they support in concept a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy plan to buy the Westside canyons and turn them into parklands.

The plan, backed by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, would allow the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to sell bonds to buy 2,400 acres in the Westside canyons from the county and the independent county sanitation districts.

Those agencies could use the money from the sale--estimated at between $9.5 million and $35 million--to help build landfills in Elsmere Canyon or in any of the other sites under consideration.

The city would pay off the bonds over 50 years through a special tax on the garbage it dumps, said Anton Calleia, chief administrative assistant to Bradley and the city’s representative on the conservancy board.

Staff writer Steve Padilla contributed to this report.