SOUTHLAND : L.A. Wins Year’s Reprieve as Judge Overturns Limits on Lopez Canyon

A judge overturned a state order today that imposed 1977 limits on the amount of trash the city can dump at the Lopez Canyon Landfill, giving Los Angeles at least a year to solve its overflowing garbage crisis.

Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs issued a writ of mandate declaring the California Waste Management Board’s July 14 orders invalid. She also issued a preliminary injunction allowing the city to continue dumping trash at current levels at the site pending a trial.

Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westoff estimated it will be “a year or two” before a trial is held.

The state contends Los Angeles is violating conditions of a 1977 dump permit that allows no more than 400 trash trucks to dump their cargo daily at the site and limits the height that trash can be piled to 1,725 feet above sea level.

Lake View Terrace homeowners have long complained about odor, traffic, dust and blowing trash from the nearby landfill.

The city dumps about two-thirds of its trash, approximately 4,000 tons a day, at Lopez Canyon. Over the past six years, the city has exceeded its trash limits, at times operating 600 trucks a day and dumping garbage over the 1,750-foot height limit.