Greenbelts Considered as Sites for New Dump : Open space: The Ventura Regional Sanitation District needs a 400- to 600-acre parcel for a new landfill in the Santa Clara Valley.

Greenbelts in the western foothills of the Santa Clara Valley are being considered as sites for a new Ventura Regional Sanitation District landfill.

Encom Associates, a San Jose-based consulting firm hired to identify prospective sites, told district officials this week that several greenbelt buffers now dedicated as open space between Ventura and Fillmore might offer a location for the nearly one-square-mile landfill.

District General Manager Wayne Bruce said the greenbelts are not environmentally sensitive and were merely designated as open space under agreements between the county and nearby communities.

“We had no justification for leaving them out” of siting studies, Bruce said, “because landfills are an approved use for open space. But in all probability, cold water will be splashed on the idea.”

The district must find 400 to 600 acres for a landfill to serve western Ventura County for the next 50 years. Its permits to operate Bailard Landfill in Oxnard expire in 1993.

By putting the landfill in a sparsely populated greenbelt area, the district would follow the lead of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, which voted earlier this year to put another facility undesirable to neighbors--a new county jail--in a greenbelt between Ventura and Santa Paula.

“Some people may consider those things to be quasi-urban in nature, but they are permitted” in the greenbelt zones, said Bruce Smith, a county planner.

The supervisors originally proposed in 1985 putting the landfill in Weldon Canyon north of Ventura. Strong opposition from environmentalists and the city of Ojai to the Weldon Canyon and nearby Hammond Canyon sites prompted the district to hire a consultant to conduct a land search.

Encom has identified 20 prospective sites outside greenbelt areas that will be ranked based on a dozen factors, including traffic, economics, natural resources, health and safety and ground water and surface water. No specific greenbelt sites have been identified.

District officials--anticipating political fallout and a possible land grab by real estate speculators--have refused to disclose the proposed sites until the rankings are completed.

“We don’t want outside influence at this point,” Bruce said. “We’re trying to keep it on a strictly technical basis.”

Several of the greenbelts under consideration are Supervisor Maggie Erickson’s central county district. Erickson said Friday that she would not support construction of a new central county landfill to handle the western county’s refuse. The Toland Road Landfill, which serves the central county, has nearly 50 years of remaining capacity.

“I don’t want to look like an obstructionist, but the cost of getting the refuse from the homes in the western county is a factor,” Erickson said.

Ojai Mayor Nina Shelley, a sanitation district board member, said she wants to maintain open space, but the greenbelts should be considered.

“You can’t site a landfill near a town or even a neighborhood, so you’re almost forced to look out into the boonies,” she said.

The district has no deadline for selecting a new site, Bruce said, but hopes to accomplish it “as soon as possible, recognizing that it is a very sensitive and difficult task.”