Board Refuses to Help Firm Reopen Landfill

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works Friday voted 4-0 to reject a plea from Browning-Ferris Industries to help it resume its landfill operations in one portion of Sunshine Canyon.

The board, which manages the city’s trash collection operations, had been asked by Browning-Ferris to recommend to the City Council that it be allowed to dump again in the Southern Mesa area of Sunshine Canyon. The huge solid waste management company has not been permitted to dump at this site since June 30.

Sunshine Canyon is north of Granada Hills. Browning-Ferris’ landfill operations in the canyon have been controversial.

The firm sent no representatives to Friday’s meeting, at which the board considered an Aug. 24 letter from the firm’s attorneys seeking help in the “immediate” reopening of the dump “for the receipt of refuse collected from within the city of Los Angeles.”

The site could take nearly 1,500 tons of refuse per day through September, 1991, when the firm’s permits expire to dump garbage in those parts of Sunshine Canyon within the city of Los Angeles, said the letter from Christopher Funk, Browning-Ferris’ attorney.

On Aug. 3, the city’s Board of Referred Powers, chaired by Councilman Hal Bernson, refused to let Browning-Ferris expand its current landfill operations in the northern area of that part of Sunshine Canyon located in the city.

Bernson, who represents the northern San Fernando Valley, has long opposed continued use of the landfill.

Browning-Ferris is also seeking a permit from Los Angeles County to dump in the portion of Sunshine Canyon that lies in unincorporated county territory.