Garbage Piles Too High, Suit Charges : Dumps: Lake View Terrace residents say mounds of debris at Lopez Canyon Landfill are too tall. They want the city of Los Angeles to shift operations to an unused area.

Escalating their campaign against Los Angeles’ only municipal garbage dump, a group of San Fernando Valley residents filed suit Monday against the city, alleging that trash is being piled too high.

The suit, filed in Superior Court, asks that the city be forced to begin dumping in a unused area of the Lopez Canyon Landfill instead of continuing to increase the height of a mound at the current dump site, located above Lake View Terrace. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for Feb. 20.

During a news conference at the landfill’s gate, Lake View Terrace resident Lewis Snow--one of three plaintiffs in the suit--described the growing mound as “a guillotine blade waiting to fall.” Snow said residents fear a repeat of a 1983 incident, in which a section of the dump collapsed in heavy rainstorms, pouring trash into the back yards and streets of neighboring Kagel Canyon.

The protesters brought a humorous touch to their complaints. A Kagel Canyon artist, Michael Wilson, donned a rubber suit covered with black lumps to portray what he called “the dump monster.” Longtime Lake View Terrace activist Eileen Barry said that if efforts to limit dump operations are unsuccessful, she will advertise “Ski Lopez Canyon, the highest peak in the Valley.”

Later in the day, an engineer for the city Bureau of Sanitation defended landfill operations, saying the current landfill elevation--trash reaching 1,768 feet above sea level--is within safety limits approved by the county Department of Health Services.

Although the dump’s original state permit called for a limit of 1,660 feet, an estimated elevation of 1,740 “plus surcharge” is mentioned in documents the city submitted to the state Waste Management Board in 1983. Last year, the state failed in a lawsuit to force the city to comply with the lower height limit.

City sanitation engineer Malcolm Toy said that 30 feet is a reasonable estimate of “surcharge,” a term used to describe the additional height expected to be offset by settling--giving the city a ceiling 2 feet higher than the present level.

Toy also said the city started dumping some trash in the previously unused landfill area on Jan. 24 and will begin to use that area exclusively after Feb. 15.

For more than a year, a group of northeast Valley residents calling themselves CUSTOM--Communities United for Safe Trash Management--have been waging a fight against the landfill. They oppose a proposed dump expansion, which would double its capacity and keep it open far beyond a projected 1992 closure date.

They have staged numerous protests at the dump gates and twice blocked garbage trucks from entering. Robert Zapple, a member of the Kagel Canyon Civic Assn., said CUSTOM members decided to file a lawsuit after the protests failed to hinder dump operations.

“This is a natural escalation of what had to happen in the community,” Zapple said. “Shutting them down for a day just does not do any good.”

The residents have repeatedly complained about dust, noise and odors emanating from the dump. On Monday, Zapple said bad smells have not dissipated despite a landfill gas collection system that began operating earlier this month.

“The system is not doing the job,” Zapple said.

Toy acknowledged that the gas collection system is not perfect, but he said the city will continue refining it.