Planners Urge Conditional Expansion for 2 Dumps : Sunshine Canyon: County officials cite an irrefutable need for disposal space, but reject firm’s request to expand the landfill’s capacity by 70 million tons.

In a bid for stricter control over the controversial Sunshine Canyon Landfill, the county Planning Commission said Thursday that Browning-Ferris Industries should be allowed to expand the landfill by only a fraction of the size that the waste management company proposed.

The Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission voted 4 to 0 to recommend that Browning-Ferris be granted permission to expand the landfill’s capacity by 17 million tons, rather than the 70 million tons wanted by the company.

One commissioner said there is an immediate, irrefutable need for landfill space in the area, but the commission was reluctant to go along with Browning-Ferris’ request for a permit to expand the 230-acre Sunshine Canyon landfill into 542 acres of unspoiled county woodland.

If the commission’s recommendation is adopted by the County Board of Supervisors, Browning-Ferris would be required to seek a new county operating permit in about 10 years, when the new capacity is used up.

Commissioner Lee Strong said he opposed granting a permit for the full expansion because he believes that the county needs more leverage to ensure that Browning-Ferris complies with all the rules and regulations governing the landfill.

Two years ago, city zoning officials found that the piles of trash at the landfill exceeded city-dictated height restrictions, that grading and filling had occurred too close to ridgelines and outside the boundaries established for the dump. Also, neighbors say that trash and dust from the dump periodically blow through their neighborhoods.

Commissioner Sadie Clark proposed that Browning-Ferris be granted a permit for the full expansion the company had requested, saying the permit could be revoked if the company violated the county’s operating conditions. But Strong said it would be easier for county officials to deny a new operating permit than to revoke an active permit.

“Based on the history of the operation, I think the Planning Commission needs to have sufficient control,” Strong said. “The review process just hasn’t worked.”

Commissioner Clinton Ternstrom said he supported the smaller expansion, citing an “irrefutable need for landfill throughout the community” but that technological developments in trash disposal may render landfills obsolete in the next decade. If the 17-million ton expansion is granted, the capacity would be used up in about 10 years.

The proposal to expand the Granada Hills landfill has generated vehement opposition from area residents who say the dump is an environmental nuisance and health hazard, and that its expansion would destroy ecologically valuable woodland.

Arlene Mead, a resident of Mothers and Others Against the Dump, said the commission’s recommendation was “not as horrible as it could be.” But she said dump opponents will appeal to county supervisors to reject the recommendation and deny Browning-Ferris any permit to expand.

Chris Funk, an attorney for Browning-Ferris, said the company will appeal to the supervisors to grant the full expansion on the grounds that the Planning Commission recommendation does not make good environmental sense.

The limited expansion would still require the destruction of nearly two-thirds of the oak trees that would be removed to make way for the larger expansion, while providing less than 25% of the dumping capacity, Funk said.

Funk also said he believes that the county would still have sufficient control over the landfill even if the full expansion is granted.