Lopez Canyon Expansion Plan Advances a Step

The Los Angeles City Board of Public Works gave city planners the go-ahead Monday to review an application for expanding Lopez Canyon Landfill, which is strongly opposed by the dump’s neighbors.

As the only city-operated dump, Lopez Canyon receives two-thirds of the 6,000 tons of residential trash produced in the city daily.

On a 3-0 vote, the board directed the city Planning Department to proceed with its consideration of the city Bureau of Sanitation’s application to nearly double the size and capacity of the northeast San Fernando Valley dump and keep it open through 2005.

The board’s action was only a small step in attempts to increase the dump’s capacity. There was no public protest. But by the time the proposal reaches the city Planning Commission in mid-September it promises to be highly controversial.

Protests by Residents

The mere mention of expansion plans a year ago touched off protests ranging from letter-writing campaigns to sit-ins by residents of the communities nearest the dump: Lake View Terrace, Kagel Canyon and Pacoima. They say the city should stick to its original plans to close the dump in 1992.

To date, Councilmen Ernani Bernardi, Joel Wachs and Nate Holden have supported the residents in council discussions about the dump.

An environmental impact report on the proposal has drawn public criticism for being too vague and too long. Bernardi and Wachs plan to resurrect a proposal at today’s council meeting that the public comment period for the environmental report be extended two more months to give opponents more time to study it.

The expansion permit review will proceed simultaneously with an environmental review of the proposal and will include public hearings, said Gordon Clint, assistant secretary to the city board.

The Bureau of Sanitation is seeking permission to increase the amount of trash dumped from 4,000 to 7,200 tons a day, to allow the height of garbage mounds to rise from 1,760 to 1,800 feet and to continue use of seven acres of U.S. Forest Service land.

June Order

An order by the state Waste Management Board issued in June calls for reductions in height and daily volume and a halt to dumping on the Forest Service parcel. The city is challenging that order in Los Angeles Superior Court.