Opponents Heap Criticism on Proposed North County Landfill Sites

A county staff proposal to create landfills in Fallbrook, the Pauma Valley and Warner Springs was soundly thrashed during an all-day public hearing Tuesday before the county Planning Commission.

The marathon session at a Fallbrook church hall drew about 500 angry and vocal opponents, including country club members, Indians, a Berkeley attorney, an El Cajon Catholic priest and lots of neighboring homeowners who claimed that their intellectual opposition to landfills has nothing to do with the so-called NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) philosophy.

Because only some of the more than 200 would-be speakers got a chance to reach the microphone, the hearing was continued to 9 a.m. Friday at the county administrative offices in San Diego.

The Planning Commission said it will not make a decision on what to recommend to the County Board of Supervisors until July 20 at the earliest.

What opponents lacked in tar and feathers they made up with in videos, photographs, maps, graphs, charts, slides and even computer-generated drawings that depicted what they called “Mount Trashmore” at the Fallbrook site.

One after another, speakers attacked the findings of an environmental impact report that they said is so woefully inadequate for each of the three sites as to be sure to invite lawsuits.

Attorney George Foreman, representing the Pala band of Mission Indians, told the commission: “The theme we’ve heard from the county staff can best be summarized by two words: Trust us. How can we?

“The EIR is so legally flawed that it won’t be able to withstand the legal challenge that would certainly happen if it’s adopted. The litigation will take a long time. Wisdom would be to spare your fellow citizens from having to go to court.”

Jim Russell, chairman of the Fallbrook Planning Group, complained that since a supplemental EIR must be prepared to address many of the landfill issues, Tuesday’s discussion was futile and a decision to change zoning to accommodate the landfills at any of the three proposed sites was premature.

“It’s hard to comment on a document that hasn’t been written yet. This is one of those rush projects where we (county government) don’t know how appropriate it is, but let’s move forward with it anyway,” Russell said sarcastically.

Opponents also argued that the county was toying with fate in wanting to store trash over major aquifers, including one that serves Camp Pendleton and another that contributes to the water supply of Escondido and Vista.

Even a member of the Planning Commission challenged a county consultant’s explanation of how the bottom of the landfills would be lined with a mixture of clay and synthetic material to prevent contaminants from entering the ground water.

“Will that liner deteriorate in 100 years?” asked David Kreitzer.

“Of course, that’s a possibility,” answered Dan Redmond, a consultant for the design engineer for the landfill project. The liner “hasn’t been around that long and put in this application so that we can answer that question.”

Another commissioner, Richard Wright, cut to the quick after continued discussion about how the landfills would be “state-of-the-art.”

“No matter how much we sanitize this, we know that what we’re talking about is a dump,” he said. “A dump is a dump is a dump.”

Some speakers offered alternative solutions, such as shipping trash to a desert site in Riverside County. Don’t count on it, Riverside County officials responded. They added that they too are opposed to the notion of a landfill in Fallbrook because the odor and dust would waft over Temecula and its wine country, just three miles away in Riverside County.

The Riverside officials also don’t much care for the Warner Springs site, because trash trucks would have to drive north on Interstate 15 and east--through Temecula--along California 79 to return to San Diego County.

Temecula Mayor Ron Parks suggested that trash be dumped at sea.

Others said North County’s trash should be shipped to South County because North County sites are too environmentally sensitive.

And so it went.

Farmers complained that the landfill-generated dust would invite insects into their groves and orchards. Indians complained that the Pauma Valley site would desecrate a sacred rock and nearby mountain that serves as a spiritual icon. There were complaints about the cost to the county to condemn expensive residential property around the Fallbrook site. Everyone complained about the trash truck traffic and the cost of widening roads and highways.

“This is the most deficient, incomplete and inadequate environmental impact report I’ve ever seen,” said Gordon Tinker, general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utilities District. “The county staff should be taken to task.”

Lauren M. Wasserman, director of the county Department of Planning and Land Use, told the audience, “There is no potential site for a landfill that will be acceptable to all of us who live in San Diego County.”

The proposals have so far generated 1,413 letters of opposition--only a fraction of them mass-produced--that included more than 10,000 comments and questions, the county said.