Sunshine Canyon Dump Operator Rejects Compromise Proposal

The operator of Sunshine Canyon Landfill on Saturday rejected a compromise offer from a group of neighbors who have fought to close the dump near Granada Hills.

At a meeting with members of North Valley Coalition, officials of Browning-Ferris Industries rejected the residents’ proposal for limited expansion of the dump in exchange for the firm dropping its proposal to expand into an adjacent area of unincorporated Los Angeles County, said Mary Edwards, the coalition’s secretary.

Browning-Ferris officials could not be reached for comment.

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled Wednesday to decide whether to uphold a zoning panel’s decision that a mesa that has served as the landfill’s primary dumping area must be closed to dumping at the end of this year.

The North Valley Coalition offered the proposed compromise because members were concerned that the city’s trash crisis and the possibility of restrictions on dumping at Lopez Canyon Landfill might persuade the council to overturn the limits on Sunshine Canyon.

An aide to City Councilman Hal Bernson, a staunch foe of the dump, said Friday that Bernson will urge that the restrictions on dumping at the landfill’s primary mesa be upheld.

But the aide, Greig Smith, said the council is feeling pressure to keep landfills open. “It is coming at a time when the council is looking at a bigger problem we are having as a city,” he said.