Planners Hear Dump Expansion Debate : Landfills: The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission hears arguments for and against a proposed expansion of the Sunshine Canyon facility.

With a tug of war over landfills between the city and county of Los Angeles as a backdrop, the county Regional Planning Commission heard a barrage of arguments Thursday for and against a proposed expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill north of Granada Hills.

More than 200 people attended the public hearing at John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills. Residents to the south of the proposed expansion of the landfill criticized it, saying it would destroy an oak forest and create more problems with dust blowing into their homes and yards.

The criticism came after a 90-minute presentation by Browning-Ferris Industries, which wants to expand the dump onto 542 acres that it owns in unincorporated county territory. Browning-Ferris’ supporters wore “Yes on Sunshine” stickers on their lapels, lending the hearing the air of a political campaign.

But looming in the background were the county’s shortage of landfill space and disclosures that representatives of the County Board of Supervisors are pressing the city of Los Angeles in closed-door talks to join the county in allowing the dump to be expanded on both sides of the city-county line. Sunshine Canyon straddles that boundary.

In a memorandum, obtained this week by The Times, the county states that if the city does not permit the landfill to expand on its side of the boundary, the city could be barred from sending its trash to the expanded county portion and to a proposed new dump in Elsmere Canyon north of Sylmar.

The memorandum was given to city officials by negotiators for the supervisors, who will make the final decision on Sunshine Canyon after receiving the Regional Planning Commission’s recommendation.

Commission Chairman Clinton Ternstrom tried to keep discussion at the hearing focused on whether Browning-Ferris’ unincorporated property is an appropriate site for a landfill. He was only moderately successful.

The North Valley Coalition, a group of Granada Hills residents opposed to the dump, asked the commission to resist political pressure to decide in favor of the expansion.

The decision “shouldn’t be made with the war of the city and the county tugging at each other,” coalition secretary Mary Edwards said.

But Santa Clarita City Councilman Carl Boyer III urged the commission Thursday to “send a message to the city of Los Angeles that they cannot dump in the county when they are unwilling to participate in regional solutions” such as expanding Sunshine Canyon. Many Santa Clarita residents oppose a dump in Elsmere Canyon, which is nearer their city.

Antonio Cosby-Rossman, a lawyer representing the coalition, asked the commission to examine the details of the closed-door negotiations.

“It’s important that all that data come out,” Cosby-Rossman said. “It may well be that Elsmere is the answer.”

A primary issue in the Sunshine Canyon debate is the proposed destruction of 8,613 oak trees. On Thursday, Browning-Ferris offered to reduce the landfill area by 42 acres, saying that would spare 1,363 oaks and 75 big-cone Douglas fir trees. The firm also offered to donate to the county 524 undeveloped acres that it owns in adjacent East Canyon as open space in exchange for landfill approval.

Neither offer was unexpected. County planners had suggested both offers to the company last month, and Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Tuesday supported the planners’ request that the company donate its East Canyon property. The North Valley Coalition continued to criticize Browning-Ferris on the tree issue, saying the oak forest will be devastated despite the firm’s plans to plant 17,000 new trees.

The residents also told the commission that expansion of the dump would worsen problems with blowing dust and trash. They noted that on Monday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a public nuisance citation to Browning-Ferris for blowing dust Sunday.

John C. (Chris) Funk, an attorney for Browning-Ferris, blamed extraordinarily high winds and work being done at the dump by a crew installing a gas-collection system.

But the residents and Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson said the incident was more proof that the often-windy site is a poor place for a landfill.