Sunshine Canyon : Council Upholds Limits on Dumping at Landfill

In a second setback for the operators of Sunshine Canyon Landfill, a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday upheld a previous decision to severely limit the amount of dumping at the site after 1989.

However, the council’s Planning and Environment Committee left open the possibility that Browning-Ferris Industries, the dump owner, will be able to obtain several deadline extensions if the company agrees to comply with other orders handed down in December, 1988, by the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

Attorneys for Browning-Ferris said they will appeal the committee’s decision to the full City Council, regardless of potential deadline extensions.

In December, 1988, the Board of Zoning Appeals found Browning-Ferris in violation of several conditions set forth in its 1966 zoning variance. The owners were ordered to eliminate the landfill’s dust and litter problems, obtain a permit to allow the 1,724-foot-tall dump to exceed its limit of about 1,700 feet and cease dumping near an access road.

At Capacity

The board also decided that the main southern dumping area--now a landfill mesa one-third of a mile from homes in Granada Hills--has reached capacity and should be closed Dec. 31. That would leave the landfill with only a small area for dumping, reducing the amount of garbage it could receive by 90%.

The firm had urged the committee to delay its decision for six months or more until operators obtained necessary permits to expand the landfill into a northern, more remote canyon. The company sought the extension so full-scale landfill operations would not be interrupted by the Dec. 31 deadline.

Attorneys said it would be unwise to sharply limit the 7,000 tons a day of trash--15% of all refuse in Los Angeles County--that the dump receives.

Without use of the main dumping area, the landfill’s operators have said, the site would be filled to capacity by 1991, forcing it to close.

Initiated Investigation

Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the Planning Committee, initiated the investigation of the dump in his North Valley district. Bernson said that he is willing to work with the firm but that he “can’t waive the rules when we have a problem here.”

He said he would be willing to extend the Dec. 31 date by “30 or 60 days” if the company could show that it was making good-faith efforts to comply with Board of Zoning Appeals rulings.

Granada Hills residents, who have long complained about the dump’s odor, dust and litter, said they were pleased with the decision.

“We are glad to see that the committee upheld the ruling rather than buckle under the tremendous pressure on it from landfill representatives,” resident Mary Edwards said.